Kofi Josephs might seem like a man who has it all. A professional basketball player who represented his country, a model, an entrepreneur and a keynote speaker.
But get to know him better and he’s quick to admit that he can struggle with his emotional and mental health. At his lowest point as a young man and living alone in America he considered suicide.
Birmingham-born and now resident in Salford, Kofi was offered prestigious basketball scholarships within the American high school and college systems, the route to professional basketball.
But during his early years in the States he had serious hip injuries, marring his progress within the sport and severely affecting his mental health. This was compounded by being so far from family and in a competitive environment.
Kofi said: “I broke my hip twice and it got to the point where my fire just went out. I was like ‘I’m actually done, like done with everything’. I started making terrible decisions man, I started drinking more. I’m no longer hanging around my teammates.
I’m still injured and at my lowest point I did contemplate suicide.
“But then what really got me was realising that there are people who would miss me. For two months I watched motivational videos. It was over-drill positivity, so if your brain starts thinking anything that’s the only song that can play.
“It worked for me and at the same time my hip started getting better so I could jump and land. It got to the point where things started to turn around.”
Kofi went on to play basketball as a professional all over the world, most recently in Saudi Arabia and for Manchester Giants. He was proud to have represented Team England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
Now Kofi is established as a fashion model and he’s developing his own clothing brand. He delivers keynote speeches drawing on his own experiences, urging people to open up about their mental health and get the support they need.
He said: “Yeah, I’m doing good in life but at the same time emotionally and mentally I’ve been doing terribly. This world is tough. It’s hard to navigate being a human. It’s easy to look at other people on social media and what they’re doing and what they’ve got going on.
“On the face of it everything can look great, but people can be really struggling underneath. And that’s why I want to be open about my experience.
“I want to bring mental health to culture because once you destigmatise it and reduce the taboo people aren’t scared to talk about it. It’s just another thing to talk about.
“That’s the big passion for me, and I’m just here to support in any way I can. I want people to know that it’s okay to struggle. Just try and survive the day and try and thrive in your day.”