00:00It's been one year since the Baton of Hope came to Medway and since then it's
00:06been a symbol of hope for those impacted by suicide. Charities and shareholders
00:11have come together to celebrate the occasion and support the public. I formed
00:17the charity after my own son Ross who was 31 took his own life. He left a long
00:23goodbye letter and one of the things that he said in that letter was dad
00:27please fight for mental health. The support is just not there and if I could
00:33have known then what I see with my own eyes now five years later you know I'm
00:41so moved by the effort, the sheer effort and love that people put into organising
00:48the kind of event like today. The Baton of Hope has been in Medway for about a year
00:54now and since then it's inspired hundreds of people who have been affected by
01:00suicide to share their grief and support each other. People also took part in a
01:08short Baton of Hope walk to empower each other on their personal journeys.
01:13Personally it means the world to me. I also work as a mental health nurse so I've seen firsthand the
01:20devastating effects suicide has on the immediate family and the ripples it
01:25causes throughout our communities. So being able to help inspire hope, help channel those
01:32conversations in a positive way so that we can support each other as a community.
01:37A new art structure by Nucleus Arts and Sunlight Development Trust is being made for the
01:44Pentagon shopping centre to raise awareness on the topic. It's going to be ten foot high and each
01:50panel within this structure is going to be either in honour of someone that someone's lost to suicide
01:55it's going to be about the different community groups that support suicide well prevention of
02:00suicide and it will all come together and then for the the anniversary of next year we'll unveil it
02:08and it will stay in the Pentagon as sort of like an honour to the Baton of Hope.
02:11The Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Conference will be taking place in November where the work of
02:18suicide prevention will continue with discussions and new strategies lighting the way through the
02:25darkest times of anyone's life. Henry Luck for KaneTV in Rochester.
