A man who once attempted to take his own life is on a mission to try to save others who are floundering in the depths of despair.

Several years ago, Jim Moody attempted to hang himself. The next thing he remembers was coming round on the floor of his flat with three paramedics and four policemen looking down at him.

On the sofa were the wrapped Christmas presents for his six-year-old daughter and a quickly scrawled note saying. “Make sure Lauren gets these, so that she knows that I love her.”

Jim, then 40, had survived his suicide attempt because in his desperate state he had forgotten to shut the front door before he hit the whiskey. He never drank excessively to get drunk, but this was different.

He was in the darkest of depression and determined to end it all on that December day in 2012.

Seven years on he can smile again and is so grateful for his life that he is on a mission to try to save the lives of others who are contemplating taking theirs.

To celebrate World Mental Health Day (October 10), he is staging a rock concert at The Tivoli in Buckley to raise money for North East Wales Mind.

Six top bands, who have waived their fees to help raise as much as possible, will be performing at the Changing Minds event on Saturday, October 12 which runs from 5pm to about midnight.

“Every penny will be going to North East Wales Mind,” said Jim, from Wirral. “It should be an amazing night, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll reach somebody there who is heading for the brink, and help pull them back.

“This event is all about Changing Minds. Currently 84 men take their lives in the UK each week. That’s 12 men every day, one suicide every two hours.

“On December 10, 2012 I joined that queue of 11 other desperate men who decided to end their lives that day.

“Suicide is an option, but opting to open up and talk and ask for help is your way forward, because dead is forever.”

Jim realises he may never know if telling his harrowing story will save a life, but he feels he is strong enough now to tell it.

You can see the compassion and honesty in his eyes as he stops to reflect before explaining how, for years, he would hide his feelings behind an ‘everything’s fine’ mask.

No one knew how hopeless and helpless he felt when depression first took hold.

His life was like a fragile house of cards that was tumbling down. His marriage was suffering. His working life as a joiner was struggling.

Financial worries were haunting his waking hours and stealing his sleep, and amid all this turmoil his self esteem had reached rock bottom.

He was self-harming, and did not even recognise himself in the mirror.

“I didn’t know this man and worse, I didn’t like this man looking back at me,” he recalls.

The life-half-empty had been there a long time, but watching his father die at 66 from a brain tumour tipped him over the edge into full blown depression.

“Being a bloke meant I couldn’t show it, and certainly couldn’t talk to anyone about how I was feeling. Living got darker and darker,” said Jim.

“Then one day I got home from work at around 6pm and I knew it would be for the last time. I selected a Metallica CD track on repeat-play and full volume - ‘Suicide, I’ve already died. It’s just the funeral I’ve been waiting for’. Those words said everything.

“I hit the Jack Daniels and very methodically set about ending it all. No one could have stopped me. I was determined in that moment. That was it.

“But I was wrong. Very wrong - as everything went black fate stepped in and three mates arrived just by chance and found the front door open.

“They came in and saw a sight no one should ever see and I am so sorry for that.

“My life is good now. I work as a professional events photographer. I have remarried and we have a three-year-old son, Dylan, as a little brother for my lovely daughter.

“After nearly seven years of recovery I am convinced I survived suicide for a reason, and that is three-fold...To live my life and to seek out all the goodness in it - to see my wonderful children grow, and to reach out and be there for anyone else who has slumped so low.

“To them I say it’s never too late to change your mind - you are not alone. There are people ready to listen, ready to help, people like the people at North East Wales Mind, which is why I’ve organised the Rock Concert in aid of their work. It’s all about mental health awareness and positive thinking.

“It’s about celebrating rock music too. So come along, have a great night out. Together we can help change minds.”

  • Changing Minds Charity Rock Night is at The Tivoli, Buckley, on Saturday, October 12. Tickets at £10 are available at The Tivoli, www.tivolivenue.com , or on the door. Doors open 5pm. Bands for the night are Last Great Dreamers, Sons of Saints, Mojo with lead singer Bedwyr Morgan, The Severenth, Bad Dog and tribute act The Doors Rising.
  • More information and advice from Mind can be found online at www.mind.org.uk