Laura Sheeran first encountered suicide when she was 11. It’s an issue, she says, about which we need to be more honest...

“Slowly but surely, there is an increasing awareness of mental health in this country. People are starting to talk about it more – but it’s also still completely stigmatised.

“When mental health is mentioned, a lot of people immediately think of schizophrenia or bipolar or severe depression – but there’s loads of other mental health issues that people suffer from that affect way more people. Things like OCD behaviours are really difficult to live with on a day-to-day basis, but it’s hard to talk about that stuff. We need more openness, transparency and discussion.
“I can’t say I’ve battled with depression or suffered any serious mental health issues – and I’m very lucky to be able to say that – but many of my friends and family have over the years. I’ve known so many people who’ve died by suicide it’s just ridiculous – really ridiculous. The first time I lost somebody that I cared about, I was 11. My mom’s best friend committed suicide and she took her two children with her as well. It was the most horrific, tragic thing that ever happened. So I became aware of these issues at a very young age, and it’s something I’ve always been conscious of since.
“I’ve subsequently known so many people who killed themselves. It’s so bad. I just think, ‘Why did they feel the need to do that? Why did they feel they had nobody to talk to? Why did they have no help or support?’ So many questions go through your head when it happens.
“These issues affect every single person, whether it’s you or a friend or a family member. I don’t understand why people don’t want to talk about it. When I was 11 and that happened, the only people who were able to talk to me were my mum or my dad, because they’re very open people. None of my friends really knew what to say. And at school, none of the teachers knew how to talk about it. I was devastated, really grieving at school, but there was no infrastructure there to offer support.
“You can see how these things can fuel themselves. People going through a trauma like that, not having support to get through periods of grief or whatever, that could really easily spiral into depression that might not previously have been there. So it’s important to keep the discussions open and keep raising awareness. And it’s important to support each other, especially within families. Everything starts at home.”