An event to help women understand men’s mental health will be held in Salford on Sunday (November 5) by the Jamie Horrocks Trust.
The trust was set up by Jamie’s sister Tammy Pike after he took his own life at the age of 36. It runs events to support and bring awareness to men’s mental health.
The trust has seen an increase in openness about mental health since it first began in 2014.
Tammy, of Salford, said: “It’s often women asking about sons and partners. We often get them messaging us on Facebook, saying, I’m really worried about my son, I’m really worried about my husband. I don’t know where to turn to.”
The trust provides £20,000 a year to fund Lads Den in Manchester, which runs every Tuesday and builds peer support among boys, under the guidance of trained mental health workers.
Tammy said: “We know that it saves at least three. Lads who go there have said if it wasn’t for the lads, then they don’t think they’d be here today. So for us that’s £20,000 a year very well spent.”
The Lads Den has now started running a session for young people aged 14-18 from 5-6pm and then 18+ from 6pm onwards. Tammy explained why these teen sessions are so important.
“The waiting list for young people, in particular accessing CAMHS-like services, they’re being told they’ve got a six months waiting list. And when your child says they’re going to take their own lives as a parent, you’re not going to sit and wait six months.”
The impact of Lads Den on the community has been positive. Danny Smith who has attended Lads Den commented “I myself went to the lads den when I was at my all-time low my wife found this for me an wow this was amazing to do I often look back at what I learnt from the guys there.”
The trust also works with schools, providing support for all ages and now putting funding in to set up allotments to teach children how to grow their own food.
“They specifically go for the kids who have got SEND support issues or they’ll be on free school meals,” Tammy added.
“Some of the kids arrive at school and haven’t eaten. So we’re hoping long term that they’re going to get some skills around building things and then growing their own food.”
Tammy worked for the NHS for 21 years up until recently, when she chose to take leave to focus on the trust. “I took voluntary redundancy this year. My background is in inclusion, equality and engagement. I was head of patient and service user experience at Salford Royal.”
She explained why the trust was named after Jamie: “He was a really popular young man, loads of people knew him around here.”
Jamie was a well-known member of the community, being a firefighter and his family was very well-liked. When the community heard of Jamie’s death, they were shocked and devastated and encouraged Tammy and her family to set up a Just Giving page and according to Tammy, this is where it all began.
They began raising funds and donating to numerous charities until they made the formal decision to create a trust of their own to better help the Salford community.
As a mother-of-three and balancing the amazing work of the trust, she talked about what keeps her motivated.
“We don’t want a family to experience what we went through when Jamie took his own life. So for me, whatever we can do to stop another family experiencing that, that’s my motivation. “
She explained that losing a loved one through suicide is what is known as complex grief.
“Normally people are like, I’m so sorry. When they know it’s suicide, people don’t know how to talk to you. People avoid you. You get people completely shocked when you say the word suicide.”
The importance of offering people a place to go when they lose a loved one through suicide is incredibly important to Tammy. Particularly, ten years ago when they lost Jamie, there was very little support.
“When Jamie died, there was nowhere to go, there’s no one really to speak to and that was a really lonely place to be.”
With Tammy now focusing on the trust full time they are now looking towards the future with plans to make themselves more self-sufficient and sustainable.
For more information on the trust, check out their Facebook page.
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