‘Not a death sentence’ - Blyth content creator champions mental health message ahead of Luke Littler & Angry Ginge work

Kyle Stephenson from Blyth turned to the world of content creation following a diagnosis of Schizophrenia.

In a bid to show others that his diagnosis wouldn’t be the ‘death sentence’ many assume it is, Kyle launched DyreCollects, a channel dedicated to trading cards, and soon became an online star.

Kyle, 27, and his channel soon got noticed by some of YouTube’s biggest names and has recently worked on videos alongside Angry Ginge and Luke Littler.

“I started streaming on Twitch when I was 17 just as I got out of hospital,” Kyle said. “I bought a PC and I just thought, why not?

“If this is going to get me out of bed, which it did, therefore it worked! That's why I started creating content and I found out very quickly that it was something I'm incredibly passionate about.”

Alongside following his passion for card collecting and content creation, Kyle also has a message he wants to promote to his followers and anyone that comes into contact with his work.

“I would love to share my story because I would like to encourage a lot of other people to kind of step out of their comfort zone. It might not be content creation they want to do, it could be something else that's quite niche and not very thought about or very common.

“However, if I'm doing what I'm doing and it's working, what's stopping them from doing something that they enjoy and they find passion in?

“Just because other people might think it's cringe or it's stupid or it doesn't make sense, it doesn't mean that you can't go ahead and do it.

“The only thing that matters is you're passionate about it. It doesn't have to make sense to other people as long as it makes sense to you.”

As mentioned, Kyle was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager - a long-term mental health condition that can cause a range of psychological symptoms.

According to the NHS, the exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown, but most experts believe the condition is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Receiving this diagnosis was tough for 17-year-old Kyle, but is one that is now inspiring his career moves, with the hope that his story can help even one person feel that they are not alone.

“I got diagnosed with schizophrenia, and obviously, to most people, hearing that word is like a death sentence.

“They would think that our life's over, and I think I would like to use my platform to help people and encourage people to let them know that just because you've got a diagnosis, it doesn't define you as a person.

“You can still chase dreams and achieve stuff, and if I help just one person, I think it's a job well done.

“And that's all I want to do, and that's what I'm trying to use my platform for now. I always said if I ever get a platform, I would like to use it to try and have a platform and push mental health as much as possible.”