Ian Hurst

For 17 years, Ian Hurst was your typical suit. Every day he would travel into London to look after the global insurance for high profile clients like Nestle, Bentley and Rolls Royce.

 

Making good money, he could offset the stressful work environment and five-hour commute, with evenings and weekends spent socialising, drinking and eating out, before returning home to his young family and pretending that everything was as it looked. Totally fine.

 

Then one day he was on a flight back home and out of nowhere, he broke down.

 

Ian quickly realised that he was suffering from severe loneliness. Though often surrounded by

colleagues, friends and family he felt unable to connect with anyone.

 

“The biggest problem is how tiring that is because you’re putting on a show seven days a week, and sometimes by the time I’d get to work at 9 in the morning I’d be emotionally and physically drained. I existed in a world that I never really was able to bring my ‘whole self’ to, I was just a bit-part player’.

 

Acknowledging that something had to change, he took time out and went on a mental health first

aid course. For Ian, it was transformative.

 

He re-educated and started splitting his time between his regular job and mental health initiatives.

 

Then, finally in October 2018 he decided to take redundancy, create ‘We Are Hummingbird Health’ and become a full-time mental health and suicide prevention instructor.

 

Ian Hurst is a highly skilled and creative communicator, trainer and public speaker both in the UK and internationally.

 

Having spent many years in a corporate industry across various roles, Ian has built a wealth of

knowledge and expertise which lends itself effectively and confidently in his new life as a mental health and suicide prevention spokesman.

 

Leaving the corporate world well and truly behind, Ian has built a new chapter in his life, combining two passions of his, music and positive mental health awareness.

 

You are now much more likely to find him working at DJ retreats in exotic locations or muddy music festivals.

 

‘Music forms such a big part of all our lives, even when we don’t realise it. It’s the time machine to

our past and just one beat can take us right back to magical or emotional moments in our life.

 

Ian likes to keep things simple explaining mental health and what it actually means for us in simplistic, real-life terms, you won’t find any clinical chat over here!

 

Mental Health First Aid England

Suicide Prevention Education & Training

City & Guilds Level 4 Qualified