Three young mums whose lives were shattered by suicide are encouraging others to talk about mental health as they fight for better support for their little ones’ futures.
Natalie Fraser, 29, Naomi Foster Aiton, 27, and Shannon Brown, 24, are all raising baby daughters after losing those closest to them in little over a year.
Natalie’s partner Graham Fraser took his own life just two months ago, aged 27.
The dad, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, left behind daughter Hannah, now 20 months.
Naomi’s partner Paul-Gerard Aiton, a talented goalkeeper from Motherwell, was just 23 when he took his own life in August last year.
The couple had just announced they were pregnant with baby Faith, now six months.
And Shannon’s little brother Callum Dunne was just 16 when he was found dead in woods in Wishaw in April last year, leaving her two-year-old daughter Harper without an uncle.
A total of 784 people took their own lives in Scotland last year and horrifying figures recently revealed that suicide rates among Scotland’s young people have almost doubled.
The mums will join hundreds of people on Sunday to take on a walk which encourages others to speak about what they describe as an “epidemic”.
Together they have vowed to fight – along with event organisers FAMS (Families and Friends Against Murder and Suicide) – for vital changes to mental health support in Scotland which could give their own children a brighter future.
Naomi said: “We’ve all been brought together because of suicide. I would never have known Shannon or Natalie had this not happened.
“We’ve got our wee girls and it’s so worrying to wonder how it’s going to be for them down the line. But there’s strength in numbers. We need to stop this before it gets any worse.
“For me, it was a total shock to lose my partner. Everyone said he was the happiest guy ever and he lit up a room with his smile.
“FAMS came out to me the day my partner died and has been with us ever since.
“What I worry about for my child is the lack of support and we need to see more in schools.”
Natalie said it is meeting people like Naomi and Shannon which has helped her through her darkest times during the last two months.
She said: “It’s all really fresh for me and I’ve been really struggling. But to speak to the other girls is empowering, realising someone else relates to me.
“I’ve learned a lot more about mental health now and how men bottle things up. Graham was a quiet man all week but you couldn’t shut him up at the weekends. Speaking to the other girls you realise the characteristics are similar.
“I really want to help other people and help them realise how much it can do for you just to come and chat to other people who understand what you’re going through. And together we can make a stance to try and prevent this in the future.
“It’s an epidemic. It’s a scary world our kids are growing up in and we need to make a change.
“The Scottish Government needs to stand up and do something about this. We can’t ignore it any more – how many more fathers, brothers, uncles, sons are we going to lose?”
All of the women are backing FAMS’s Give Youth a Chance campaign, which calls for mental health support to become part of the curriculum in Scottish schools.
It has so far resulted in a petition of more than 2000 signatures being published by the Scottish Parliament.
Shannon said it is too late for Callum, but she hopes Harper will one day see the benefits.
She said: “When I was in school, we didn’t have a guidance counsellor. You couldn’t speak to anybody but your friends and maybe your teachers but it’s easy to brush these things off.
“I’d love to know Harper had that support and it was easier to open up.”
FAMS’s Lets Walk and Talk free event – in its fourth year – starts at 2pm in Strathclyde Country Park, Motherwell, and has activities for kids as well as food and a Tea and Talk tent.
A minute’s silence will be held for the loved ones lost.
Naomi said: “When it happens, you feel lonely and angry at the world. That feeling of loneliness was the worst for me and I still feel it every day. That’s why everyone needs to come together.
“People who come on Sunday don’t even have to do the walk. It makes such a difference just to talk.”
