User:Jasonpegler

JASON PEGLER

More About the Founder of The World’s First Mental Health Brand

Jason Pegler’s expertise is mental health. When he was seventeen years of age he spent six months in a psychiatric ward in Coney Hill Mental Hospital in Gloucester in the United Kingdom. After six weeks of mania where he thought he had taken 5 billion Ecstasy tablets to create world peace, Jason's first realisation that he was actually not well and in a mental hospital memory was a vision. He knew that one day he would have to gather enough strength to tell the world how he felt. By doing this he could stop the pain and humiliation that he and everyone else with a mental illness felt. His immediate thought was that his experiences and feelings needed to be recorded as they happened on the largest platform possible. Then and only then would other people understand and therefore empathise with the "loonies" in Coney Hill. For Jason was perejudiced and ignorant about people with "mental illness" until he expereicned it.

The vision included making a Hollywood Blockbuster Movie as that was the widest audience possible and then you could educate people in a subliminal fashion, when they were relaxed and wanting to be entertained.

It took Jason four manic episodes from the age of 17 until he was 24 to be bold enough to change his thought processes and act on this vision. Jason graduated from Manchester University with a 2:1 in Classical Studies in 1998 before writing his autobiography on living with manic depression (1998 - 2002) "A Can of Madness" and setting up Chipmunkapublishing with co-founder Andrew Latchford.

Released on April 13th 2002 with help from the British Government's Mind Millennium Award Programme A Can of Madness was immediately recognised as a ground breaking text and compared favorably to Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation and Kay Redfield Jamieson's An Unquiet Mind. It also became an underground text symptomatic of saving the ecstasy generation from its own "mental illness" and continues to spread its influence over the globe.

In October 2002 Chipmunkapublishing launched its second author Dolly Sen who was inspired to write her autobiography The World Is Full of Laughter after reading A Can of Madness.

"My goal in life is to tell the truth about my life, tell the truth about how people with mental health issues are treated by society, the mental health system, the state and the status quo. I want others to follow in my footsteps and help me break down the taboo on mental health once and for all." Jason Pegler.

"When I was eighteen I was diagnosed with manic depression. This was on the day that I left Coney Hill mental hospital in Gloucester. It took me several years to accept what had happened until i reached a higher state of consciousness where i could help other people. It completely blew my world apart.

Various documentaries, film versions and scripts featuring Jason Pegler and his related projects are underway. The ultimate goal is for the story to become a feature length blockbuster movie. Then the widest audience will be reached. Also, while they are in this relaxed state of mind they will be more sensitive to the suffering of the state of mind of the manic and be able to have their prejudices tackled on a subliminal level.

Jason Pegler knows from the letters he and other Chipmunkapublishing authors have received thanking them for writing his book that "By telling the truth about one's mental health issues sufferers are able to deal with the humiliation and carers are able to see how best to help their loved ones. Writing and reading books about mental health users are cathartic processes that are crucial for the reduction of stigma and discrimination and for the improved state of mind for service users. The books also help give an insight for mental health staff as to the nature of their patient's feelings and are a morale booster for staff showing that people do get better".

In August 2004 The Chipmunka Foundation was set up by Jason Pegler and Paul Brandwood the 'Chief Operating Officer, Financial Sector Advisory, KPMG Uk. to become the world's largest and most effective mental health charity. Founder members include the co founder of Chipmunkapublishing Andrew Latchford and Chairman of the Big Issue Nigel Kershaw. Another critical member is Mark Randall - Co Founder of EC3 Solutions. For a full list of the strategic committee please see below.

The Chipmunka Foundation is a registered charity (No 1109537).