Gillian Keegan Education Secretary
Little did we realise that, after the suicide of our daughters Sophie, Emily and Beth, our lives would come along this route. In the aftermath of these suicides our lives, and those of our families, was completely shattered – trying to work out how to keep living was the immediate challenge. The future seemed an incomprehensible world, one that didn’t seem attainable.
Over time we began to put our lives into some kind of shape that allowed us to live and, as we moved forward we began to look for ways to help other families avoid going down the same route. This became our first fundraising walk for PAPYRUS taking in our 3 family homes, the lessons we learned on that from the many suicide-bereaved parents we met encouraged us to write to the Government to ask them to address the single biggest risk to our young people’s lives – suicide.
We were inspired to walk again because the wheels of government turn slowly and we wanted to highlight that suicide doesn’t discriminate; it can happen in any family, anywhere in the country. We also wanted to ask why weren’t talking to our young people about the biggest risk in their lives. We spend a huge amount of time teaching them about drugs, road safety, knife crime, radicalisation and so on but there is no obligation for our schools to address the single biggest killer our children will face.
Alongside our second walk we launched a petition asking the Government to make suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum; this received over 160,000 signatures and the petition was debated in Parliament. Many MPs spoke in the debate and, without exception, they all agreed that we needed to do something to teach our young people about the biggest threat to their lives. In response to the debate the Government announced that the review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum would be called forward from September 2023 to begin immediately.
Outside the Department for Education before our meeting with Gillian Keegan
On Monday 22nd March we were invited to meet Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education. Also in attendance were many senior civil servants from the DfE; we spoke about what we have learned through the conversations we’ve had over the last couple of years – particularly the collective voice we have inherited from the many suicide-bereaved parents who have shared their stories with us. Most of them asked, if suicide is the biggest killer of our young people, why didn’t anybody tell them?
The discussion in our meeting wasn’t about whether we should do something or not, it was clear that everyone there knew that doing nothing wasn’t an option. We spoke at length about the suicide prevention lessons and workshops we’ve already seen delivered and discussed how these can be done is a safe, controlled, age-appropriate way.
We felt that everyone in the room was striving to find a way to help equip our young people with the knowledge and skills that would allow them to help themselves or their peers as and when suicidal thoughts arise.
So, what’s the next step?
At the moment the DfE is calling for evidence so they can assess how the RSHE curriculum can be changed to better help our young people. They have asked us to play an active part in that review; we know we aren’t suicide prevention experts...but we’ve met plenty along the way so we will be able to introduce the DfE team to many who will be able to help them.
We felt that the meeting was a significant milestone along the way to smashing the stigma that surrounds talking about suicide prevention, we are in a position where the people who decide what happens in schools are as concerned as we are about the biggest danger to our young people.
We’re looking forward to helping the team at the DfE create a RSHE curriculum that will save lives and change societal attitudes towards suicide and suicide prevention.
We haven’t stopped yet.