Resilience with Ben Dath

Tell us a bit about your story.

On holiday & only 3 weeks into living at a new place I was in & out all day buying homewares to set up a new home. Hopping out of my car I could smell gas but nothing once you stepped into the property so thought little more of it.

Settling in for the night, grabbed a candle and as soon as the lighter went up was as fast as all four walls were in flames.

Seemed like slow motion as bright blue flames went up my arms & into my face.

A crack in a gas pipe under the road pointing towards the house & flowing 500,000 litres of gas into the property.

This resulted in 30% of my body being burnt.

Was put into an induced coma & very little chance of surviving.

2 years later & it’s still a long road, weeks filled with appointments & an abundance of medication daily.

How have you managed to gain resilience and face some of your hardest days?

So many contributing factors to this!Therapy, opening up to friends, medication, self help books, music, going for a walk, taking a nap etc etc

What mental wellness tips would you dish out to someone going through a challenging time?

Allow yourself to feel that way & acknowledge the negative thoughts or feelings as just that ‘negative thoughts’ ‘negative feelings’ if you label them as those you know that it’s not normal & it’s not always going to be that way.

A lot of time I’ve spent mopping in bed flooded with negative thoughts & I’ll force myself to go for a drive, a walk or whatever it is to get out of the mindset.

My therapist has been teaching me about the left & right side of the brain and how you can train yourself to switch between them in a way. I’d highly recommend researching into this because it’s super interesting and something everything one should know about!

Who is one person you would like to thank for being an integral part of your support system?

Its really hard to name one person because mental health support alone let alone a burn injury is definitely going to a take a clique.
Mum & Dad for sure. Deirdre Seoighe was my surgeon and an absolute power woman!! Both Waikato & Taranaki hospital. Friends and family I’m in absolute life time debt too