A FATHER whose teenage daughter took her own life has called for suicide prevention to be included in the secondary school curriculum.
Rob Mason made the call after taking part in the penultimate leg of the Three Dads Walking Challenge, which has seen Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen – who have all lost a child to suicide – walk to each of the UK’s parliaments and raise over £1 million for charity.
Their challenge, which has been covered by national media and received messages of support from stars including James Bond actor Daniel Craig, began when the three fathers – who did not know each other beforehand – trekked 300 miles to each other’s homes.
It ended on Monday with them presenting a petition signed by 100,000 people at Westminster to coincide with World Mental Health Day, calling on politicians to make suicide prevention a part of the curriculum.
Mr Mason, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Kezia in March, said: ‘I joined them to share our story and to bring the message back to Jersey that suicide prevention should be part of the school curriculum.
‘I think there will still be some resistance to it because some people think that you shouldn’t talk about it in case you put the idea in people’s minds, but it’s a myth and if you don’t talk about it in a safe, controlled way they’ll find somewhere unsafe to discuss it. The intention is to equip them with the skills and understanding they need to save themselves if their mood dips.’
Mr Mason said that the next step was to develop a secondary school curriculum, following discussions between government departments and charities.
He added that a suicide-prevention strategy was included in the recent list of ministers’ priorities for Jersey, and that he hoped this would be extended to secondary schools.
Mr Mason said that there were no obvious warning signs or triggers such as mental-health issues, bullying or drug use before Kezia died.
‘It was completely out of the blue, an impulsive decision with tragic consequences. If she had had the skill set to say, “I feel so low now but tomorrow I will feel different…these feelings will pass” it might have got Kezia through those three hours.’
Mr Mason said Kezia’s case was not the only one of its kind in Jersey, but other families had decided to stay out of the public eye.
He said: ‘Kezia’s not the only one. This isn’t a one-off in Jersey. Suicide is the biggest killer in the UK of under-35s.’
On his return from the walk, Mr Mason added: ‘We talk to our children about road safety, drugs, sex safety and mental health, but not specifically about suicide. The world has changed since I was a teenager. There are screens everywhere and it is 24/7 negativity at the moment. Being a teenager is a challenge in itself but we can’t protect them by avoidance of the subject. It’s a societal change – starting to teach them the skills to cope in school will mean when they’re the adults of the future they will be better equipped.
‘We have to break the taboo. Shying away from the issue may result in missed opportunities to save lives.’
Mr Mason joined the penultimate day of the challenge, for a 24-mile leg of the walk on Sunday from Slough to central London, and then the last six-mile leg on Monday at breakfast time, when a petition containing over 100,000 names was presented to the UK Parliament. The issue of suicide prevention on the school curriculum must now be considered by the UK’s government as a result of the petition.
Mr Mason said: ‘It was very humbling and almost therapeutic for me to share my story with the other fathers. There were a number of people I spoke to whose situations had striking parallels with our case.
‘We have the opportunity to act more quickly than the UK in Jersey because we are autonomous. The best possible outcome would be if the school curriculum here contains specific, age-appropriate suicide prevention to break the taboo.’
Mr Mason’s son Ben (16) won three awards at this year’s Pride of Jersey Awards, after raising more than £106,000 for charity through his campaign to raise awareness of issues around mental health following his sister’s death.
The Three Dads Walking group of fathers who have lost their children to suicide have now raised over £1million for PAPYRUS, the charity for prevention of young suicide. Their first walk was to each other’s homes and the longer walk was to all four parliaments in the UK – Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.
