Flotsam & Jetsam

There are chapters in my life that I wish I could rewrite - not to erase the pain, but to rewrite the silences. I suffered with serious bouts of depression throughout my daughter’s childhood. At times, it swallowed me whole. I separated from her mum when she was two, and from then on, I mostly saw her alternate weekends - every other Saturday felt like a glimpse of sunshine through thick grey cloud. I loved her fiercely, but I know there were times I felt unreachable, even to

It usually starts small. A cheeky accumulator on a Saturday. A spin of the roulette wheel on your phone while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil. Maybe a flutter on the horses - nothing serious, just a bit of fun. But for some men, it doesn’t stay fun for long. The thrill becomes the fix. The win becomes the need. The next bet becomes the only thing that matters. And somewhere between the wins and the losses, a quiet kind of shame takes hold. The Hidden Epidemic We talk a