Cheddar man with brain injury helping men open up

Tim and his wife Sarah live in Cheddar in Somerset

A man who suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with mental health struggles has started helping people in a similar position.

Tim Richens, 60, from Cheddar sustained the injury falling from a taxi as the driver sped away in 2013.

He has set up Regain the Brain and works to educate people on how such injuries can affect mental health.

"I want to help people affected by brain injury with their emotional health, particularly men," he said.

Mr Richens had been on a night out in Exeter when the driver of taxi he was getting into drove off, causing him to fall on his head.

He was placed into an induced coma, spending weeks in hospital before waking up at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset, he said: "All I could see were the physical injuries but the reality was, I wasn't aware of what it had done.

"Because I look normal as I did before, the world expected me to act in the same way, I expected me to act in the same way - I really struggled with the actual idea that I couldn't."

'Boy's don't cry'

Mr Richens explained he struggled to readjust because of symptoms he had developed like mood swings and exhaustion.

He then felt forced to give up his job and to stop managing a local football team.

He said: "I went through a long phase of feeling, 'Well, what is the point?'."

But Mr Richens was then inspired to start tackling the stigma around mental health, particularly for men.

"I grew up in a generation where boy's don't cry," he said.

Mr Richens now works as motivational speaker to encourage men to talk about mental health

"Even the word mental, for people in my generation, can have a bit of stigma and I think that's really unfair.

"Poor mental health is nothing to be embarrassed about and should not carry a stigma."

'There is hope'

Mr Richens now gives motivation talks about his own situation and has had many people open up to him.

"When I hear someone open up to me, I feel like its all worth it," he said.

Since then, he has got support from Headway Somerset, a brain injury charity in Henton, and said hearing from people with the same issues was "wonderful".

He added: "I know what it's like to be at rock bottom, the priority now is making people feel better about their lives.

"There is hope, you just need to find it."

If you are affected by any of the matters in this article, help is available at the BBC Action Line.