A lonely father pleaded with people to message him after “feeling rock bottom” during the lockdown.
51-year-old Edmund O’Leary is a father-of-two from Epsom, UK, who took to Twitter to admit he’s not doing okay and urge fellow social media users to reach out to him.
“I am not ok. Feeling rock bottom. Please take a few seconds to say hello if you see this tweet. Thank you,” the heart-wrenching post read.
Once the message went viral, hundreds of thousands of people have reacted to the former mental health worker’s request whereas many reached out to comfort the father who has been unemployed for a year and a half.
After being inundated with messages and friendship requests, O’Leary spoke out on This Morning by ITV to share his experience and encourage people to “reach out if you feel alone.”
“On Friday I was feeling very depressed and isolated and I have Twitter friend who writes similar things, I thought if it worked for him it could work for me,” he said.
“The phenomenal response is a lot about timing, it was daytime in America and a lot of people were sick and tired of all the bad news on Twitter.”
As the 51-year-old added, he “will keep in touch with some of these people.” Meanwhile, he also encouraged other men to “reach out for help” when they feel lonely.
“I’ve had many men reply to me and say they couldn’t do what I did. They called me courageous and were applauding me. I would say to men try to reach out for help and don’t feel alone,” the former sales worker said.
“I think we are in for a pretty awful winter by all accounts, reach out for help, reach out to loved ones, and seek medical help if necessary.”
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