Chris: I’ve quit booze over fear I’d get addicted

Star’s mental health struggle

I was drinking too much, and too often, I just instantaneously stopped...

CHRIS Packham has told how he has quit booze over fears he was becoming addicted.

The star, who is back on Springwatch this month, says he has not drunk since January.

He revealed: “I was drinking too much, and too often, and I thought, ‘you’re getting addicted to this,’ and I really don’t like the idea of addiction. I was scared of it, I just instantaneously stopped.”

Speaking during Mental Health Awareness Week, he called for more NHS funding to cope with the surge in people suffering mentally.

And Chris, 61, reflected on his own battles, saying: “I got to a point, as you know, where I thought very seriously, and right to the last moment, about taking my life because I was depressed.

“I thought to myself, on the back of that, I mustn’t ever allow myself to get to this point again. I have got to do something where I’ll be able to stop before I get to that point, otherwise I’ll end up killing myself.”

Chris said he went on an intensive course of therapy that lasted three years.

He said: “I think that gave me a framework to understand being in that frame of mind and therefore, to some extent, you are able to manage it, and that so far has kept me out of danger.”

He said a friend had recently sought help, but was scuppered by the NHS waiting lists. He said:

CHRIS PACKHAM “Someone I know at the moment is going through a mental health crisis, it’s taken me a while but I have managed to get them to go and seek professional help.

“Now they’ve had their first interaction and they’ve got to wait three months.”

He also told how his house has been under surveillance by unknown people. It comes after his gates were firebombed last October, which police are investigating. “There is one guy who keeps taking photographs of the house. We’ve got a lot of electronic security,” he added.

■ BBC2’S Springwatch begins on May 30, and will be based in Wild Ken Hill, Norfolk for three weeks.

Chris will co-present with Michaela Strachan and Megan Mccubbin will be on the road in the North of England.

tom.bryant@mirror.co.uk

@Mirrortom

CALL Chris wants to see more funding for mental health

BLAZE Attack last year at his home