Need to Talk – spreading it’s message far and wide.

Rónán Patterson is a 3rd year Quantity Surveying student currently completing his placement with KSN. He bravely appeared on RTÉ’s Operation Transformation to share his experiences with mental health. Here is his story.

My name is Rónán Patterson and I have just started placement with KSN.

I set up my own mental health awareness brand called “Need to Talk” in September 2020.

I have suffered from low moods and anxiety ever since I got glandular fever back when I was 17.

I decided to admit something was wrong and made the brave decision talk to my GP and Guidance Counsellor in school.

The sense of relief I got from opening up to someone and telling them how I felt was huge.

At the time I was playing county for Cavan, rugby for Ulster and was called to Australian Rules trials. I had lost a lot of interest in sports, school and hanging out with my friends.

Ever since I launched Need To Talk I have had great feedback from people that they were able to relate to my story.

Need To Talk is a mental health awareness clothing brand that spreads awareness throughout the brand, and we donate a percentage of profits straight back to charities around Ireland.

I have done numerous interviews and talks for businesses. It’s great to be able to turn such a negative time in my life into something positive and spread much-needed awareness around mental health.

Operation Transformation got in contact with me a couple of weeks back as they had seen me involved with articles with RTÉ previously.

It was a great experience filming with them. They came up to my house and local GAA Club.

If you want to know more about my story you can search my name and “Need to Talk” on google or check out my website www.needtotalk.ie  to have a look at our clothing brand.