Dr Alex George appeared on Lorraine on Wednesday alongside his mother Jane, after he was given the role of Youth Mental Health Ambassador by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
They spoke about the tragic death of Alex's younger brother, Llŷr, who took his own life in July 2020 aged just 19.
Jane said: "[It's been] Beyond, absolutely beyond difficult, I think that’s the only way to describe it.
"We are the first line of defence as the parents, we have a duty to know how to have these conversations, to effectively spot those signs.
"Hindsight is a terrible, terrible thing… you look back and think, 'Oh my gosh, I missed opportunities to do things that would have made a difference.'"
On Alex's work supporting children’s mental health, she said: "You’ve been doing absolutely amazing. Me and dad and Elliot, we are so, so proud and Llŷr looking down would be so so proud of what you are doing."
She said she had been coping with her loss by knitting and lots of people had joined in to raise money to make woollen hand warmers with a button on about her loss, and Dr Alex added that knitting was a form of mindfulness.
Speaking about his new Ambassador role, Dr Alex said: "It was unbelievable, I have been campaigning now since the beginning of January.
"I’ve been working very hard behind the scenes with the Lorraine show raising awareness around this, finding out information from schools and teachers.
"Finally launching this campaign at the start of the month and it’s just been the most incredible journey, we posted on social media and the response was incredible and then Number 10 directly reached out and said we have seen the campaign you are doing we’ve seen you speaking on the show and we would like to talk further."
He went on: "I got the call last week saying the Prime Minister would like to see you and speak to you. Obviously, as a little boy from North Wales it’s not something you expect to happen.
"Before I knew it, I had an appointment with him yesterday at Number 10 Downing Street. We sat down and we talked about how important it was that we supported mental health and I really got across my passion around that.
He added: "I really, really am so honoured to have this opportunity where I feel I might be able to make some change… I wake up every morning and think of Llŷr, I really do. I feel like I wake up now that I have something I can really do and I might be able to help people."
"I’m going to do my very best to bring change… I really care and I will move mountains if I have to."
* Lorraine airs weekdays on ITV at 9am
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