Alistair Izobell
Cape Town - From entertainer to politician, author and now men’s mental health facilitator, Alistair Izobell has launched his latest project, Healing Broken Brothers.
With a career spanning several decades, Izobell’s name is synonymous with David Kramer and Taliep Petersen musicals like Kat and the Kings and District Six.
In November, the father of two opened up about his mental health struggles and his three failed suicide attempts, the latest he claimed was downing over 100 tablets and 18 beers.
But the star survived and decided to “help other broken men” heal by speaking out.
Izobell said his latest initiative was a programme designed for men to accept the patriarchal weight they carried.
The three-day programme is set to take place in May and is one of the ways he is dealing with his current healing process.
After a teary and highly emotional Izobell shared of his divorce in a Live Facebook video, he was now on the road to recovery and wanted to help other men on his path, he said.
“My challenges were beyond my divorce etc. It was me confronting understanding, accepting, and dealing with the fact that I’ve been a depressive for many years.
“All the things that happened from betrayal to divorce to everything else that I was very public about, was me standing up taking off the smoke and mirrors and saying, ‘I have been dealing with this disease for a long time’, and all the things that happened to me were just catalysts to get me to the point of the dark night of my soul.”
He also announced the launch of his book, Broken, which was set to be released in December last year.
“I’m still in the final stages of editing and that book will come out in the next few weeks.
“I’ve not overcome anything, I’ve learned to deal with it, to manage it and to understand it is a daily process.
“This healing of what one experiences as a man and me coming out and speaking about it, was just that I am as fallible as anyone else and I’m not the first or last person to experience this. If I can let men know it’s okay to feel weak, vulnerable, afraid, then I am living my truth.”
While his men’s retreat will offer workshops, coping mechanisms and sessions with mental health practitioners, Izobell said the first step to healing was accepting you are broken and admitting to seeking help.
“I’ve done this, but we have created this society where men are too afraid to say that things are going wrong.
“They’ll rather perpetuate the lie until it completely relaxes, and then you’re sitting with a big problem. So it is usually important to have strong men where we create heroes and not victims.”
venecia.valentine@inl.co.za
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