Attitude Pride Award winner: Mental health campaigner Jonny Benjamin

The man behind the channel 4 documentary The Stranger on the Bridge, Jonny Benjamin is now using his global platform to reach out to others struggling with their sexuality and campaigning for greater awareness on mental health illnesses. We’re proud to award Jonny one of our inaugural Attitude Pride Awards in tonight’s ceremony, in association with Delta Air Lines. Watch Jonny tell his incredible story below:

In January 2014, Jonny made a public appeal to help find the man who stopped him from throwing himself off Waterloo Bridge six years before. Because of the length of time that had passed and because Jonny, in his schizophrenic and suicidal state, had been whisked away to hospital before he had a chance to speak to the passing Samaritan, he was only able to refer to the lifesaver as ‘Mike’ and the Find Mike campaign was launched. The results were nothing short of astonishing. After appearing on TV and radio shows around the world, #FindMike started trending globally and Jonny — who had launched the campaign with the Rethink Mental Illness charity — became the new poster boy for mental health.

You can read more about Jonny and the rest of our wonderful Attitude Pride Award winners in the new issue of Attitude, in shops now. You can download the mag from Pocketmags.com/Attitude or order a copy from newsstand.co.uk/Attitude.