TCHATCHET II Cyrille

General
SEEKING ASYLUM
He represented Cameroon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, but fled the team camp as he did not feel safe enough to return to his home country. He travelled to Brighton, England, where he had no money and nowhere to live. He considered taking his own life but he made a phone call to the Samaritans charity, which was the first step towards improving his situation. He was granted permission to stay in Great Britain in 2016. "I literally just walked out of the [athletes'] village and into town and I ended up sleeping outside on the streets that night. I met someone very randomly, who I told my story to, and they took me to London. Then they put me on the coach to Brighton. I honestly didn't know anything about Brighton, but it was just as far away as possible. I'd thought about suicide for a long time. I just wanted to end it all. It got to the point where I thought, 'Why am I even doing this? Why am I wasting time? Just kill yourself'. I was living under a bridge in a new city in a new country. I knew nobody. You just feel ashamed and that you're nothing. You feel suicidal all the time because you just think you're useless. Next to me I saw a number of the Samaritans. It said, 'If you're feeling low just call this number'. I had some credit in my phone so I called them. They asked me where I am and I think they're the ones who called the police because then I saw the police car coming. The good thing is they stopped me." (olympics.com, 06 Jun 2021; bbc.co.uk, 18 May 2019)

FURTHER EDUCATION
He studied for a degree in mental health nursing at Middlesex University London in England, and completed a dissertation titled 'The Effects of Exercise on Depression'. He also studied for a bachelor's degree in geography at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon but did not complete it. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Dec 2020; Facebook profile, 21 Jul 2014; bbc.co.uk, 18 May 2019)

OCCUPATION
He is a trained mental health nurse, and has worked as a lead nurse in physical health innovation at the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. "The main learning is that you need to get busy, and there is a link between physical and mental well-being. I think I'm a typical example of how positive exercise can affect somebody." (olympics.com, 06 Jun 2021)