I have recently learned of the passing of an old friend – Andrew Polson (check out here for the report on his death).

His passing was, however, six months ago. As often happens when folk we are close to move away (in Andrew’s case it was to the north of Scotland), one then loses contact and in the case of one of the parties dying the other then finds out a lot later, often by chance. Having not been in communication for some time (we used to correspond intermittently) and given I was planning on a visit to Scotland soon, I wondered if I could call on him. Having lost contact with him, I did an Internet search to find out more info. While I couldn’t find a photo I could share, I did find this newspaper report.

I was sad of course to read this news, but not surprised as I was mindful that his health, including his mental health (which I will get to) was not good. Also, in recent years, his mother and sister, who he was close to, had died and I was not aware who was near that lived close to him. In my latest book, I write about 17 dead Christians that I had known who had significantly influenced me. If I had known about Andrew’s death before I got to publish the book, I am pretty sure he would have been added to that number because he would have qualified. But at least I can write this short tribute to say why he was such an important influence in my life in spite of our going on separate paths based on an unresolved fall out for reasons that I won’t get into. At least I can let people know, who knew and had dealings with Andrew in the past, who might read this tribute, and thus do my bit to help preserve the legacy that he left us.

I can’t quite recall the exact circumstances that first caused our paths to cross but it was around the turn of the millennium and concerned our shared interest in mental health. It was also at a time I was contemplating a career change which turned out to me making the transition from being a well paid computer consultant to that of a lowly paid community worker. There were a number of folk who got together who were concerned about helping folk with mental health issues and this included Andrew and myself. Andrew’s contribution was an almost unique one. He had been diagnosed with a serious mental health condition (I believe it was schizophrenia) but he also had a strong Christian faith, who believed this could and should be applied to helping those living with mental health issues, including a number that would seek solace “in church” but often not helped. He helped me realise that churches have more than their quota of congregants with anything from mild depression to severe psychotic illness and often the people and places where help might be expected failed to provide that help. Mindful of the limitations of churches, even the well meaning ones, and the gaps when it came to service provision, we wanted to do something about it.

To cut a long story short, one of the major outcomes of our getting together, with our group initially dominated by Christians who had a strong faith but later to be joined by others with important practical contributions to make, was the setting up of the Growing Together project and the Trust Links charity, whose aims were to provide holistic support for those we were concerned about, notably through its garden related activities. I helped both to get under way, including becoming the Growing Together project coordinator in its early days. At the time, Andrew was a member of St. Andrews church, which also took an active interest in matters concerning mental health and members of the community with mental health issues, both practically and spiritually. While Andrew did not become much involved after that important early input, he continued to wave the flag for and sympathetically advocated on behalf of those experiencing difficulties due to their poor mental health, often let down by those who one might have expected to help, well supported by his mother, Beryl, and sister, Christine, in his endeavours. As for Trust Links, it has gone from strength to strength and is still going strong (check out here its website).

While some might argue that Andrew’s own mental health issues exasperated the problems, e.g. hindering the efforts of others wanting to help, who saw things differently, I still see him as an unsung hero, not just in the setting up of a charity that has helped many, but as an inspirational figure that has helped me to become the “gospel preaching, community activist, watchman on wall”, with a keen interest in mental health issues and helping those affected that I am today, where my association with Andrew has been a key factor. Going back to the newspaper article that following a chance conversation with a mutual friend triggered this post, I noted the sentence at the end: “Donations in memory of Andrew towards Change Mental Health may be given at the door“. When I checked out the “Change Mental Health” website (see here) I noted the words: “We provide emotional and practical support, both individually and through peer support groups, for those caring for someone with mental illness“, the very difference that Andrew wanted to be made and encouraged others to make.