Joe's mental workout

Fitness guru Joe Wicks opens up about his family’s mental health struggles

- TESS LAMACRAFT, IAN MACEWAN

NEW HEALTH

Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood

Monday, 9pm, BBC1

Fitness coach and author Joe Wicks became a national hero during lockdown when he started his ‘PE With Joe’ workouts on YouTube, and millions tuned in to take part in his daily fitness routines. But now that life is beginning to return to normal, it’s not just physical health that concerns him – it’s our mental health and, specifically, how it’s affecting children.

Having grown up with parents who had serious mental health problems, Wicks opens up about his family’s struggles in this documentary.

ROCKY START

The 36-year-old grew up in Surrey with dad Gary, mum Raquela, and two brothers. Raquela was a social worker, but life at home was far from normal.

‘My dad had depression and became a heroin addict. My mum had OCD and eating disorders, and was in rehab for five months when I was 11 years old,’ says Wicks, who wants to help today’s kids who are coping with similar problems.

According to the NHS, before the pandemic there were 3.7 million children in the UK living with a parent who had a mental health condition, and data suggests the figures have increased since.

In the programme, Wicks visits Our Time, the UK’s only charity dedicated to working with children of parents with mental illness.