MENTAL FITNESS BATON OF HOPE
How Baton of Hope is aiming to eradicate the stigma of suicide
Those are the words of Ross McCarthy, taken from a farewell letter he wrote to his family before his death by suicide in February 2021. McCarthy had been suffering with severe depression for ten years and had been placed on a six-month waiting list for therapy. He died two weeks into the wait.
Despite the devastation caused by McCarthy’s death, his final words have been used as inspiration by his dad, Mike McCarthy, to create Baton of Hope, the biggest suicide awareness and prevention initiative the UK has ever seen. A tour of 12 UK cities, starting on Sunday 25 June in Glasgow before reaching Downing Street in London on 6 July, the Baton will be carried by those who have lost loved ones to suicide. The Baton itself has been crafted by silversmiths Thomas Lyte, known for making the FA Cup and Ryder Cup trophies. The aim, explains McCarthy, a former TV reporter, is to draw attention to a subject that remains taboo, while also honouring his son’s dying wish.
“The fact that he wanted to do something, and to improve something, was typical of Ross,” says Mike. “He cared about other people. He especially cared about other people with mental health issues.”
“There is no conversation”
The statistics about suicide in the UK make for disturbing reading. It is the leading cause of death among those aged under 35, with an average of 17 suicides occurring every day. There were 5,583 suicides registered in England and Wales alone in 2021. Three quarters of all deaths by suicide are men.
“There have been enormous advances in the openness surrounding discussions to do with mental health, driven largely by the younger generation,” says McCarthy. However, when it comes to suicide, there still seems to be a deep reluctance to talk.
“With suicide, there is no conversation,” he adds. “There is no public discourse, there is no political debate. There are no lessons in the classroom. There are no lectures.”
It’s a view reiterated by Ged Flynn, CEO of Papyrus, a charity dedicated to preventing suicide in young people:
“We know that if we talk openly and safely about suicide that we create and engender hope. But the prevalent myth, which is very, very deeply held within us, is that if we talk about suicide, we will cause it.”
Flynn explains that talking safely about suicide means asking people how they feel, asking again and, importantly, asking directly if they are planning to take their own life. Unsafe approaches include discussing methods, which can lead to imitative behaviours. The key, he adds, is to normalise suicidal thoughts, so much so that the con
