Paul Bowman would rarely leave his room.
Unemployed and reeling from the loss of his mother Paul found himself on a downward spiral where just interacting with his flatmates was becoming difficult.
“Because of my depression I get stuck in my room a lot, I don’t associate with my flatmates as much as I should,” Bowman said.
“It is tough because it is one big circle, you don’t’ have a job so you feel worthless.
“You feel worthless so you don’t eat right, you don’t associate with people, your self-confidence drops and it’s really, really tough. “
The only thing that would brighten up his day was his regular trip to Victoria University Whitten Oval to watch the Western Bulldogs train, and it was here that he struck up a conversation with Will Minson.
Paul got speaking to the ruckman during the Bulldogs Family Day in March about his battle with depression and Minson urged him to join the Club’s men’s health program, Sons of the West.
“I love my footy and I met up with Will on the Family Day, and that’s where he asked me to join Sons of the West, Paul said.
“I brought it up with him because I suffer depression and diabetes issues, and how it’s affected me over the last ten years.
“I lost my mum just over a year ago which has caused my depression to deteriorate.
“So I spoke to Will about it and he introduced me to (Program Manager) David, and we took it from there.”
Since joining the program, Paul says that although there is a long way to go, he says things have improved a lot thanks to Sons of the West.
“The exercise has definitely helped because at the end I felt like I achieved something.
“It pushed my happiness up a lot.
I’ve had a lot of downs, and the downs hurt because you really start doubting yourself and your worthiness and self-confidence, but when you do have a good time it picks you up.
“There’s a long way to go, but the early steps… I’m loving it. I urged anyone who’s thinking about it to do it.”
Paul says that the fact that he feels so welcome is what brings him back each week, but there’s also another motivation: to make Will proud.
“I owe everything to Will.
“I’m determined to make Will as proud of me as I can, so I’ll do everything in my power to keep coming back and keep improving.”
The next round of the program will begin in early June, if you’re interested in find out more, join our mailing list here.
