AboutLE TOMIC
LE TOMIC FOUNDATION
Le Tomic Foundation aims to raise awareness and money for four mental health charities as well as promoting good mental health.
The charities we support are Bipolar UK, Papyrus, Converge and Menfullness. They provide information about what to do should you, a family member or friend experience a mental health crisis.
We aim to break the stigma on mental health and allow people to access help and support.
We do not offer counselling or therapy but there is information on this on the Help page. Bipolar affects about 1.5 per cent of the population and of those 1 million people around 70,000 will take their own lives.
This is a statistic we want to change and see more if not all people with a mental health condition live a fulfilling happy life experiencing the usual ups and downs that it entails. With your support we can achieve this.
OUR FOUNDER
Tom Boyle
I was diagnosed with Bipolar in 2011 when I was studying for a PGCE in Secondary school teaching having graduated with a geography degree from Leeds University in 2009. I suffered from poor mental health since the age of 19 in my second year of university when studying Law/French. I subsequently changed courses and universities and moved from Sheffield to Leeds.
At the same time as studying I also pursued a career in semi-professional rugby. It is these network of friends that offered great support and kept me on the straight and narrow. In times of crisis such as in 2007 I visited a psychiatrist for the first time. I was embarrassed and ashamed and felt my teammates would want to disown me so I never told anyone.
Eventually I returned to the rugby field in better mental and physical shape than ever before and completed my degree. I am grateful to the University of Leeds for being so understanding and giving me the time off I needed to recover. I kept my diagnosis a secret from almost all my friends. I did not accept the diagnosis and felt ashamed of who I was.
I still tried to advance my career and gave up on teaching to give business a go and set up as a print broker supplying labels, business stationery and boxes. I really enjoyed wheeling and dealing although it could be stressful at times with no money coming in. This meant I did other jobs on the side such as marqueeing, driving and even amazon delivery driving which was hard work. I enjoyed it and the low stress jobs gave me useful money whilst I could build up the print business. I actually stopped taking my meds in 2012 and remained well until 2020. It was at this moment I went public with my diagnosis and even posted things on facebook.
Some friends could not handle it and disappeared but true friends emerged. I would not advise anyone to come off their meds. In November 2020 I suffered a relapse and required the support of the local community mental health team. In December 2021 I came off my meds but this time suffered a serious relapse. I was put on an intensive care ward and nurses said I was one of the worst cases they had ever seen.
As I got better I started reading and read a book by footballer Johan Cruyff. It was there I learned about the idea of a foundation and how nice it would be to give something back to society after taking so much in the form of a rugby career and business and meeting great people. I had a blip in August 2023 but I never came off my meds so this meant a short informal stay in hospital and some additional medication. I vowed never to come off my medication in February 2022 and I won’t. I am hugely grateful to the organisations and medics that have helped me. I hope you share my vision in creating better mental health for people and managing it in the most effective way possible.
Don’t Man up Speak Up.