Medway fundraising group bring suicide prevention to the forefront
The initiative uses local events and awareness benches to help form connections
Stronger Together Medway was formed earlier this year by Lee Mills, Adam Palmer and Natalie Beaumont-Robson. Since then the fundraising group have gone on to fund multiple suicide prevention benches across Medway, working with Legend on the Bench, hosting regular friendly football games and social events.
Talking to us about forming the group, Lee Mills said the it was inspired by their own personal losses, and a want to do something good for the community:
"We're not mental health professionals, but we provide opportunities to connect people and offer support through conversation and community events," Mills explained.
The project organises events like seven-a-side football matches to promote open dialogue and community building, helping break down barriers among participants.
He added, "Communication is a powerful free tool that we don't utilise enough. Our aim is to increase conversations and foster connections."
On how to know when someone is in need of support, he added that it's often not the person you're expecting it to be. But that many had told him about their own positive experiences, or the experiences of loved ones, when it comes to using their benches for support:
"It's so impactful and so constantly surprising, the people that will come up to you.
"We did a race night, we've done a music evening, sometimes it's the person in the room that you would, you could honestly say won't come and speak.
"And at the end of the night, once you're packing up and as a few people have dispersed, that one person comes to you and says, 'thank you so much for this. I've had troubles.'
"And that's the thing that's really landed with me is it shows you on the face of things, how little we can read people.
"What makes it so difficult is often the people struggling the most are the people that project that kind of facade when you meet them, and they seem really happy.
"They're just, they're masking that pain.
"So we try and offer the, 'it's okay not to be okay. Please come and talk, talk to one another, talk to us, talk to services, get involved.'
"But it's also okay to distract yourself sometimes, because if you can add some positivity into your life by coming to events, being social, it just makes you feel better and it gives you a bit of perspective and takes you out of that."
To anyone in the Medway area interested in attending one of their events, Mills added:
"One thing we've really noticed is, it's a bit like going to the gym, that it seems like you might not fancy doing it, but you never regret doing it.
"We had so many people that you would consider relatively vulnerable, certainly very shy, certainly very nervy. And they're the first people now to say, 'I'm coming to that'.
"And because they did that that first time, they've now got themselves a community.
"The first bit is always so scary, but so many people have found themselves a new community from just being brave that first time. So be a little bit brave just the first time."
The group plan to do a charity fundraising walk later this month, in order to unveil two new benches in the Medway area.
If you've been impacted by suicide you can find help and support at hubofhope.co.uk