Earlier this week our Head of Inclusion College spoke to Tim from 3DadsWalking to discuss their campaign to have suicide awareness as part of the curriculum. One of our amazing students Tabs Leech was inspired to write this response

May 2023

We always talk how we can prevent stop suicide but that might not always help. Until it happens we don’t take it seriously enough,
there is still so much stigma around it.

Why? Because people who want to talk and open up and say how they feel, they think they are going to get shut down just because of what they have said, no wonder it gets to the point where they try to take or are successful and then people wonder ‘oh why did that happen? because you didn’t listen to them at their lowest, when they needed that support.

People don’t always give it to us. As someone who’s tried to take my own life, it was almost like I was shut out from different support service because I was scared that my parents would find out and if they did what would they do to me and  what would they say because they don’t know what to do in that moment, and as the person
going through it you are struggling but you feel lonely because you don’t want to open up because you don’t want to get told off.

It stupid that we get told off for how we feel because you might go up to your friend or a family member and say I feel low, depressed, sad, then they go and turn around and say ‘what do you have to be sad about’.

You don’t know what the individual might feel or be going through because they struggle to open up because they are anxious to.

It is the same with self harm, yes it takes that numb pain away that they feel inside because they want to see something feel something because they cant feel anything in that moment when they have that urge to do it because then they can feel something again. But
then they hide it because they don’t want to show their vulnerability, because they are scared people will judge or bully them more.

The fact there is still so much stigma around mental health and we don’t talk about the bits around it is awful. We should talk more about it. People think it still has to be SHHH about it is wrong and disgusting.

As someone who experienced all of this I know what it’s like. I hate how I have been shut out or felt that I could not say something because I didn’t want my family to be cross or upset with me or find out.

We shouldn’t be shunned, we should be able to open and express our feelings no matter what.

Why is mental health so different from normal physical health is wrong. We don’t get the help we need.

Yes there is more about, there has been more in the last few years but there’s still not enough I believe.

The voices of the community still need to be heard and taken on board.

We need to educate the whole of the nation, especially the generation before us who don’t understand the difficulty that us young people feel around it.

We don’t want to be told off. We don’t want to be shut out. We want to be heard. We don’t want to battle our demons alone.

We want help and support to battle our demons in our head because the battle is painful and long.

We want to be able to trust the people we are meant to but it is not always that easy.

So please learn the signs and watch for the young person who mental health could be taken a toll, they might look fine but it’s different every time when some spirals out of control, they might not look sad but its a mask and only will that mask be take of when
they have trust bond with that adult or with friend.

We don’t want to feel alone we want the help and support we deserve.