‘Hear Me Speak’: How Trauma Fueled One Man’s Campaign to Reform Policing and Schizophrenia Care
SchizophreniaPerspectives on Schizophrenia

‘Hear Me Speak’: How Trauma Fueled One Man’s Campaign to Reform Policing and Schizophrenia Care

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Published on September 24, 2026
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Listen to António's story through Perspectives audio.
Perspectives
António Ferreira
Living with schizophrenia
"I could barely hear my psychologist or psychiatrist asking me, 'What's wrong? What's going on?'"
Transcript Available

F or António Ferreira, 29, a severe schizophrenic episode feels like being amid the chaos of a concert, with the voices in his head screaming like performers, drowning out the rest of the crowd.

“You can hear the performer so clearly, whereas the people around you, they’re so hard to hear,” says António.

Today, the London-based student, father, and mental health advocate lives a quieter, more well-managed life with his family. But getting to this point took a long journey of trial and error, intense therapy, and breaking down his own and society’s ideas about what it means to live with schizophrenia.

After Mounting Pressure, a Mental Health Crisis

António’s mental health challenges began around age 16, following academic pressure brought on by others and himself.

“I heard people encouraging me, saying things like ‘António's going to be a doctor. António’s going to be a lawyer,’” he says. “I had to become this to be accepted.”

Perspectives
António Ferreira
Living with schizophrenia
“I was struggling with a lot of expectations and putting a lot of unhealthy pressure on myself at the time.”
Transcript Available

During this time, António also began experiencing feelings of paranoia, low moods, and catastrophic thinking — symptoms that are common with schizophrenia. Soon after, his auditory hallucinations began dictating his reality. Unable to make sense of his feelings and seeking a way out, António planned to end his life.

On the morning of his planned attempt, António submitted an anonymous tip to his school’s mental health services. “I wanted them to know so that they could let my family know that it wasn’t their fault,” he says.

The school tracked him down, and his brother, along with his psychiatrist and psychologist, were able to de-escalate the situation, restraining him until the ambulance and police arrived. Fortunately, no one was harmed.

Trauma Turned Into Teaching

“I was able to challenge the emotions I withheld from that experience to then channel that into something positive.”
Transcript Available

Although his life was saved, António was arrested and placed in a holding cell. He was eventually released with no further action, but his mental health crisis was treated and viewed as a crime.

António can still recall the taunts on the way to the police station. “I was ridiculed and blamed for my crisis,” says António, recalling comments such as, “Well, no one told you to do this to yourself.” For years, the incident caused a fight-or-flight response in António whenever he saw a police officer.

Until he transformed that fear and trauma into a tool for systemic reform.

In 2023 he launched the “Hear Me Speak” campaign, a United Kingdom–based organization that supports legislation and guidance around policing within mental health crises. António now works directly with the London Metropolitan Police, training new recruits on de-escalation and how to handle mental health crises with empathy.

Wisdom in Diverse Perspectives

Perspectives
António Ferreira
Living with schizophrenia
“Having various therapists has been more of a blessing in disguise than anything because it's helped me to understand perspective.”
Transcript Available
It took time for António to heal, both from his mistreatment and the severe episodes of schizophrenia. In fact, he didn’t even receive an official diagnosis until his early 20s. He spent years on waiting lists and transitioning between children’s and adult mental health services before finding a healthcare provider who could give him proper treatment. Over a 10-year-stretch, he worked with at least six therapists, all of whom had very different cultural backgrounds. He quickly learned that seeing other Black therapists made conversations feel easier and more intuitive. But working with therapists from other backgrounds also pushed him outside of his “cultural bubble” and gave him a different perspective.

Through therapy, António realized that his goal wasn’t to eliminate all the setbacks in his life but to alter his relationship with them. “We can never get rid of our problems,” he says. “What we can do is find solutions for them, store resources to deal with them, and manage them.”

He also learned that progress takes time — and that he shouldn’t compare his results to anyone else’s.

“You know, I love the story of the hare and the tortoise because the tortoise wins by taking its time.”
Transcript Available

The Grounding Power of Fatherhood

Perspectives
António Ferreira
Living with schizophrenia
“Having my son has motivated me so much to look after myself ... I feel like it's a new opportunity to give somebody the experiences I had very little access to.”
Transcript Available
In 2024 António welcomed his son, Carlos, into the world. While navigating the anxieties of parenthood alongside a schizophrenia diagnosis was challenging, Carlos gave António new motivation to continue to manage symptoms and look after his mental well-being.

António plans to be transparent about his diagnosis with his son. “I won’t shy away from that conversation,” he says. Growing up, António didn’t have the words “mental health” in his vocabulary, but he’s determined to make sure his son does.

By taking things at his own pace and prioritizing his own mental wellness, António is showing his son — and the world — that schizophrenia doesn’t have to define you or your achievements.

“I want Carlos to see the positivity … where he tells his friends his father had this diagnosis, but, you know, it never really affected how he loved me,” says António.

“The matter of fact is, I am a father with schizophrenia, I already have individual struggles.”
Transcript Available
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