As a teenager on a youth mission in London, Patrick Regan was suddenly intensely aware that the homeless people he was meeting, living in extreme poverty and with a constant threat of violence, were all made in the image of God and that he had to respond, praying ‘Lord I really want to see the world as you see it and capture your heart for people’.
He’s been on a rollercoaster of a journey ever since, founding the influential youth charity XLP, which runs projects in schools and communities across 7 London boroughs, reaching over 2000 young people each week. Then he had to face life-changing operations on his legs which meant stepping back from active leadership and facing his own mental health challenges, a very tough period, but out of which has grown the organisation Kintsugi Hope, taking as its inspiration the Japanese way of repairing broken vessels with gold so that the scars are not only visible, but honoured and treasured.
Patrick is a visionary and activist, seen (by others, and himself) as a solutions man and a pioneer, so it felt like brave move to talk publicly about his own mental health…which felt at the time like a weakness. Turns out that admitting it has enabled others to be open about their own challenges, and Kintsugi Hope is all about creating room for mental and emotional health to be understood and accepted, with safe and supportive communities for everyone to grow and flourish.