The mum of a popular DJ who died two years ago is now on a mission to help other families bereaved by suicide.
When Ali Barry's son Lee passed away in August 2020 it was a massive shock to the system.
Suffering with her own mental health in the aftermath and not knowing where to turn, Ali was put in touch with the team at Extern who helped with counselling.
Read more: 'Cocaine took over my life': NI man's sobriety after falling into addiction
The team then helped her through mental health training courses, where she learned how to speak to others about suicide and bereavement, which led to her forming Stronger Together - a group supporting families bereaved by suicide.
Describing her son Lee as the life and soul of the party who was loved by everyone he met, Ali said he had been struggling with his mental health in the years before his death and had turned to drugs.
"To take his own life - it's the last thing I ever thought he would've done," Ali told Belfast Live.
"He was just so lovely, kind, thoughtful and helpful. He was always like that from a very young age, it's just such a waste of life.
"When he died and I put it out there about how he struggled with his mental health, none of his friends knew. He was always the life and soul of the party, always had a big smile on his face and was there for everyone at the drop of a hat."
Lee was very involved in local football teams around Larne, first as a player then as a coach. After the progression of a genetic disease he had called Von Hippel–Lindau (VHL), which meant he couldn't play contact sports, he turned his hand to DJing.
Eight months after buying his first set of decks, Lee won a competition in Thompson's Garage in Belfast and went on to DJ in the city, was a resident at Lush Portrush, and travelled throughout England, Croatia, Ibiza, and Australia to play music.
But when lockdown struck and the world shut down, Lee found himself at a loss.
Ali said: "Covid was a massive thing for Lee. Everything just stopped and he didn't know what to do. He was very much a social butterfly and to not be able to visit his friends and go out DJing every weekend just impacted him massively. I could see him getting further and deeper into the depression.
"The longer it went on, the deeper into depression he was getting, then it was more and more drugs. He was going out on a Friday and I wouldn't see him until the Tuesday or Wednesday.
"I used to say to him I wish I could do something to help him, as it was breaking me too, and he would just say everything was going to be OK. He hated being on drugs, but he just couldn't get off them.
"I have no words for the people who were giving him the drugs. They could see how bad he was getting but all they wanted was their money, they didn't care what the effect was on Lee.
"He was such a lovely young man, we never argued or fought. Whenever he was coming home with drugs in him, he would sleep it off then he would come downstairs and tell me he was so sorry."
Following his death at the age of 25, a number of Lee's friends turned away from drugs after seeing the impact they can have. But Ali said this is still a widespread issue that needs to be further addressed.
She said: "When they sat in my house when Lee's body was brought down, I told his friends 'this is it, it's going to be one of you next year, you need to wise up.' Some of them did take that advice and did that, which is just phenomenal for them. They saw the reality.
"But the number of young ones coming up now and being targeted by drug dealers is ridiculous. I mean 13, 14 and 15 year olds. I get if they're out and everybody's taking drugs they probably feel pressured into doing it as well, but what they don't realise is years down the line they may be like Lee, where they need drugs just to function."
Ali's mental health took a dip following Lee's death, and she said she "would not be here today" without the team at Extern's intervention.
For years, Ali had been trying to get Lee help for his mental health but had never been able to get anywhere. She's calling for more funding to be available for mental health services in Northern Ireland.
"I was a single parent most of my life so it was only me and Lee," Ali said.
"Whenever Lee was struggling with his mental health for a few years, I went to the doctors and they would give tablets. He didn't want tablets, his issue was drugs - he didn't want more drugs. The doctor referred him to a counselor, which took seven or eight weeks to come through.
"The counsellor told him in the second session he didn't need to go to counselling because he wasn't a drug addict, he was a drug abuser, which I find completely bizarre as one thing leads to another.
"He opened up to me massively but I know there's things he probably wouldn't want to say to me. There was just nothing to help him, and in the end it just took its toll and he took his own life.
"I have a niece and nephew who I absolutely adore and I just think what if they grow up and there's still nothing for them if they struggle at all. It can't happen anymore. I made it my mission to get the services vastly improved for a start. The government aren't doing it enough, they aren't taking it seriously."
To help with mental health services on a smaller scale, Ali formed the group Stronger Together last year to help support families bereaved by suicide.
She said: "In the time Lee died, in the Larne area there were quite a few suicides, especially among young men. I personally knew quite a few of the parents and I just thought - who do they talk to?
"I contacted a few of them and asked where they're getting help for coping with this, and they said they didn't get any. They had been to the doctors and had been given anti-depressants but that was it, they'd been given no support. I went home and thought about it and wondered if I started something would people come.
"People were very keen to get involved when I mentioned it. I said we could share our own experiences and how we deal and cope with it.
"The 12 members love that we can all sit and chat, and all understand how each other are feeling. It's things we couldn't necessarily say to other people.
"When you lose your only child to suicide, it's extremely hard. But I had two options: get the word out there or lie down to it. I wasn't prepared to do that. It's my Lee's legacy I'm carrying on in his name."
You can find out more about Stronger Together by clicking here.
Read more: 'I dropped eight dress sizes': NI woman's inspiring weight loss journey
Read more: 'North Belfast's mental health pandemic has been in crisis for years'
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
