A GREENOCK dad who was left feeling suicidal after losing several loved ones has hailed Morton in the Community for helping him turn his life around.

Gary Peach told the Tele he had hit his lowest point in early 2021 after the death of his mother-in-law.

That, and the impact of his son’s partner losing several babies, took a serious toll on his mental health.

The 59-year-old said he had struggled with his mental wellbeing since he was a teenager and had spent decades suffering in silence.

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But his situation began to change when he was invited along to Morton in the Community’s Team Talk group, a mental health project run by the Ton’s charity arm which gives local men a space to talk and get things off their chest.

Gary Peach says the 'Team Talk' sessions turned his life around. (Image: George Munro)

“That night I went there I found there was no pressure, no obligations," he said. 

"I just sat and listened to people.

“I felt I got a lot off my shoulders, and it was a great feeling. I didn’t know the guys but I could relate to a lot of what they were saying.

“I worked beside a colleague, Stuart Hawke, who told me about Team Talk. He happened to show me an interview the Greenock Telegraph had done with my friend who’d been to it.

“That’s what inspired me to come.”

Although he has never been much of a football fan, Gary feels he now has a special connection to Team Talk and Morton in the Community, which he credits with helping him get his life back.

"There was one point where it was very dark for me," he said, "and I couldn’t see anything out of that.

“What I would have done I don’t know. Whether I’d be here today or not, I don’t know. But it was a really dark time.

“It was just before I started going to Team Talk. I felt like everything was on my shoulders and I couldn’t do anything more.

 

“I felt as if I could just jump in a car and go off the edge of a pier.

“I’d been to the doctor and got something to help me, but I knew myself inside, the day I went to Team Talk, that I had to do something myself.

“Medicine wasn’t just the answer, I knew I had to work on myself.”

Gary says attending the sessions also helped him unpack childhood trauma which he had been holding on to for decades.

It also gave him the confidence to leave his job of 24 years and pursue a new, more satisfying career.

He adds: “I’ve grown so much over the last three years, it sounds crazy but I feel as if I have a new life.

“Morton in the Community has given me life back. I think of it as my sanctuary.”

Morton in the Community chief executive Brian McLaughlin told the Tele he was delighted that charity had been able to help Gary.

He said: “Getting to hear the stories of guys like Gary is incredible.

“The fact we’ve effectively saved people’s lives is far from what we set out to do, but it’s incredible.

“Over the years we’ve probably helped about 30 or 40 individual people who have come into the stadium on a Monday night for Team Talk.

“We’re delighted we could help Gary, and our door is always open to anyone else who needs help.”

  • This article is part of a feature which appears in the Greenock Telegraph’s special publication to celebrate Morton’s 150th anniversary. To pre-order a copy of the book, please visit tinyurl.com/dafsbsyj.