How do I help someone who doesn't want help?

Hi everyone,

I'm sure that some of you have been in my situation before so I'm hoping that someone can share their experiences with me. I have never sought help on behalf of someone else before, it's always ever been for myself... However, I am the type of person who is not ashamed to admit when something is wrong and I have learnt how to pull myself out of depressive episodes.

BUT the person I am asking for won't seek help and refuses to admit that he has a problem because he considers it "sookiness". He won't talk about his problems and when he does he will write them off as unimportant. When he is having a particularly bad day, he will push everyone away and close himself off. I'm worried that it's really affecting his quality of life - he's lost a lot of friends and a few of his colleagues think very negatively of him. Dealing with him does take up a lot of energy and I've been trying to get him out of his head by asking him to hang out with me whenever I can (we have this breakfast buddy thing going that he seems to like).

When we are out, we enjoy each others company and I can always seem to get him laughing. He can be really tough to talk to otherwise - I always get the feeling that I'm annoying him and while I don't try to shove sunshine down his neck, it's almost as if having a normal conversation just isn't possible with him.

A few questions for those of you who are dealing with or who have overcome a sitation:

a). how do you approach someone about your concerns for them without coming across as annoying or too invasive?

b). is there anything else that you can recommend I do to support this person while I am not physically with him?

I'd love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Thanks!