Mike King - The Nutters Club: Helping Nutters From the Inside Out

Knowledge without wisdom is just information

THE NUTTERS CLUB WAS CREATED by Mike King.

Its purpose is to forever change the way people think, feel, talk and behave in relation to our mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, cultural and sexual well being; and in doing so encourage us all to take ownership of our own health and well being.

Mike has ridden the roller coaster of national fame and notoriety. Depending on who you listen to, Mike is either a villain with a potty mouth and a notorious background or a hero. His 30-odd years of party-boy drug and alcohol addiction are legendary. Lesser known is that when this book goes to print Mike will celebrate a milestone four years clean, sober and cigarette free.

He leads a much different life now after a near-fatal stroke made him pause and reflect on his life. He still does stand-up, a lot of celebrity speaking and hosts the increasingly popular Nutters Club on RadioLive and Maori Television. His stance on pig farming and public advocacy for acceptance and understanding of people with mental health conditions is well known.

By his own admission, Mike is a Certified Nut. In public his apparent confidence is deceptive. He can be very brash. After all hes a Harley riding, black leather jacket wearing, dark shades kind of guy with arms and shoulders covered in tattoos. Whats more, he tells outrageous, sometimes foul-mouth, jokes. He doesnt make friends easily and in his past had an almost uncanny ability to offend.

Public persona and private life can be misleading. Smiling on stage in front of an audience of one or a crowd of a thousand is a masterful way to disguise depression. Mike, like so many others with a mental illness is a master of the mask; outwardly confident and tough, inwardly teddy-bear gentle and bursting with self-doubt.

My relationship with The King began two years ago. I had just begun working for the Mental Health Foundation. One month into the job, I put a proposal to Maori Television for a show that dealt with hard social issues like drug and alcohol addiction, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I did not know what shape or format the show would take or who should present it. Sonya Haggie and Haunui Royal from Maori Television liked what they heard, suggested Mike King as the presenter, Top Shelf as the production company and courageously agreed to broadcast the show if we could raise funding (thank you Movember and New Zealand on Air). I did not know why they suggested Mike and neither did they tell me.

Six weeks later, I meet Mike at a takeaway bar in Auckland on the afternoon the pigs story broke. It was bedlam. People kept approaching Mike to shake his hand, pat him on the back and say, Good onya. His phone rang incessantly. News-hungry reporters in search of a scoop bombarded him. In between his phone calls I outlined my thoughts; Mike looked at me inquisitorially then blurted out his story. His phone rang again. Just before taking the call he nonchalantly said to me, Ive got it bro, its the Nutters Club.

And from little acorns do big oak trees grow.

Mike wont want to hear this, however it must be said. A debt of gratitude is owed to him for his courage in publicly speaking out about mental illness, drugs and alcohol addiction. These are issues that will plague our nation in the future if collectively we dont have the guts to take the necessary action to reduce them now.

The Ministry of Health published the New Zealand Mental Health Survey in 2006. That document states that 46.6 per cent of the New Zealand population are predicted to meet the criteria for a mental illness at some time in their lives, 39.5 per cent have already done so and 20.7 per cent had a mental illness in the past 12 months. And yet publicly as a society we seem to want to pretend it doesnt exist. To continue to do so will place our nation in far greater peril than the current financial crisis.

I know this to be fact.

I was once a corporate climber hell bent on a business career in pursuit of the outward social trappings associated with financial success. I did not believe in mental illness. My thinking then was: it is just an excuse for weakness. It is not, mental illness is real. We all need to acknowledge, accept and understand this as truth. Otherwise how can the process of recovery and healing begin?

The human condition is complex and life is full of twists and turns. If youd asked me at 35 if Id be working in Mental Health at 50, I probably would have thought you were nuts.

Of course that was before my father, besieged with depression, effectively went from 16 stone to 8 stone and starved himself to death. I was present in the hospital theatre when he was administered ECT. A few years later the person who was, is and will always be my hero, Rose Te o Marama Sokratov got cancer and within three months was gone.

Then I, the man others saw as uncompromisingly strong and who until it happened to me had always been able to recognise the difference between grief and sadness, fell into the hole. It took three years for me to get myself out.

To Mike King, your journey has not been without adversity and Im sure it wont lack ongoing challenge. Youve come a long way. Just moments before we did your interview for Sunday News editor Lee Umbers, who didnt know how much you were about to fess up and publicly admit to your years battling depression, drugs and alcohol, I remember saying, Are you really sure you want to do this? It could cost you your livelihood, sponsorships, speaking engagements and advertising endorsements. And you are probably going to kiss good bye to all future TV and radio opportunities.

You held my gaze and replied, If thats the price Ive gotta pay to get this story out there, bro, Ill pay that price. And I recall thinking, placed in the same situation would I have this much courage? In all honesty, I dont think my cojones are that big. We agreed that day honesty would be our joint drug of choice going forward and so it has been.

The publication of this book is testament to the honesty and integrity of all people who share their lived life experience of mental illness to help others hold on to hope. And the work of every caregiver and health professional like our Nutcracker David Codyre for their humanity.

Mike King is a self confessed Nutter doing his best to help other Nutters live at peace with themselves and others, so we can all lead meaningful lives.

Thank you, my bro, Readers Digest got it right: Laughter is the best medicine.

Kindest

Boris Sokratov

Out of the Blue Campaign Manager

Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

BECAUSE OF THE STIGMA THAT surrounds mental illness, for more than 20 years I suffered in silence with my depression. For some stupid reason I saw it as a weakness and I was petrified that my mates would find out and I would be considered less of a man. Instead, I turned to drugs and alcohol. Not only did they bring me temporary happiness they also bought me lots of new friends, and suddenly all was right with the world at least that was how it seemed. As the hole got deeper, my resolve grew weaker until finally I hit breaking point and in a tiny hotel room in Hong Kong tried to go out with a bang.

My road to recovery has been an interesting one. It started with giving up the drugs and alcohol, and when they went, so did most of my friends. From there I went to counselling and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and losing a healthy dose of pig-headed arrogance, I took my therapists advice and went on antidepressants. Id like to say that was the turning point, but if Im being completely honest it wasnt there was still the dark cloud of shame hanging over my head. The fear that someone would discover my dirty little secret.