About James
I'm James Hamell, a resilience coach and the author of Hope Through Discipline. FORGE grew out of my own experience of breaking down and finding a slow way back to structure and confidence.
I experienced a severe mental health crisis. It led to psychosis and to being hospitalised. When I came home, I didn't recognise myself — I'd lost my identity and my place in the world.
Rebuilding didn't happen overnight, and I won't make out that it did. It was slow, messy work, built through small daily actions: walking every day, cooking, building a routine, training, creating structure where there was none.
I learned to walk again, quite literally. I learned to feed myself properly. I learned to get through a day without it falling apart. None of it felt heroic. Most of it felt ordinary. Over time, that ordinary became a life I could stand on.
There were setbacks. I relapsed and was hospitalised again. What helped me return to stability was the same quiet work, done again — one small action, then the next.
That lived experience is why I built the FORGE Method: Foundation, Ownership, Resilience, Growth, Execution. A clear, practical way of rebuilding from the ground up.
Muay Thai, my faith, and a commitment to service have also shaped my own rebuilding. They inform how I think about structure, consistency, and meaning. FORGE brings those lessons into practical, non-clinical tools that people can use in their own lives.
I wrote the full story in Hope Through Discipline: My Journey Back from Mental Illness. It's an honest account of breakdown, rebuilding, relapse, and what helped me stabilise — a place to read more, not a promise of the same path for anyone else.
Read more about the journeyWhat I learned rebuilding my own life is now written into everything FORGE puts out — resources, coaching, and workshops alike.
You can't build a house from the roof down. You start with the foundation.
Grand plans often fail. Daily habits rarely do. Start small. Adjust when a day is hard.
Missing a day doesn't mean starting from nothing. You adjust and carry on.
The tools meet you where you are. A smaller version is still a version.
My path is mine. The resources are educational and non-clinical, not a guarantee of the same outcome for anyone else.
What's relevant to whether FORGE could help you or your group — kept accurate and in scope.
Breakdown, hospitalisation, relapse, and a slow return to structure and stability. This is the foundation of my work — not a claim that my path replicates for anyone else.
FORGE is designed as a resilience coaching and education resource for people rebuilding their lives. 1:1 coaching is currently in development and not yet available to book.
Hope Through Discipline (a published memoir) and The Resilience Field Manual (a practical, evidence-informed workbook).
Potential sessions for clinicians, service users, and public groups can be discussed. Workshops are not currently running; scope and availability are confirmed individually.
Experience supporting people within mental health services.
Built on behavioural psychology and lived experience. FORGE is educational and non-clinical — it is not treatment, therapy, or a substitute for professional care.
If any of this resonates, the simplest place to begin is the free starting exercise. It's a small, concrete step — a single daily action you build around — not a promise of where you'll end up.