Our Why ….Our younger brother Callum was 15 in 2009 when he left us.

At 15 Callum was popular was popular with his friends ,healthy a great sportsman and loved by his family. 

Although as a teenager he was unsullied by some of the responsibilities & pressures of adulthood, he didn’t have all the financial burdon’s to come. He wasn’t running a stressful business, he wasn’t facing redundancy. He didn’t have to worry about mortgages, inflation, and cost of living or any of the money worries, he could have come to face in maturity. 

 This simply goes to show that regardless of age the pressures we feel are all valid and all relative. Suicide, and indeed, pressure is a weed that will invade any garden regardless of your age your creed, your level of success, county of birth, indeed, any one can be tested so we must take it very seriously.

I guess there are times in everyone’s life, regardless of age that we experience periods however fleeting of real pressure and worry left unresolved at times can feel or appear unbearable. 

 What experience shows us is that given time most of the things we worry about never actually happen at all, and even if they do happen, sometimes they can be a blessing in disguise.  Of course we’re only giving this with the benefit of hindsight and perspective once we’ve gone through the process. The dangerous bit is when we’re in the middle of a crisis in the midst of what we think might happen.

Callum was a happy healthy confident kid.  And then one day suddenly he was gone…..just like that…..

What do you do?

There are many regrets with a huge Callum shape hole in the world that cannot be filled.  Callum has left us with his fingerprint on the world. In part his legacy of which is that he has brought our family closer together and in his name he reminds us every day that life is both precious and fragile at the same time and ultimately life is a gift we must preserve for each other!

The reasons people find themselves at the Cliffe edge of suicide are so bespoke there simply can not be a one size fits all solution as everyone’s motives are so be-spoke to them, BUT…. there is real hope!

There is one univirsal bargaining chip we all have! Time…. The most precious gift of all,  as with time we buy ourselves hope and opportunity with the chance to heal and try again older, wiser,  maybe a little bruised but stronger and closer to happiness. 

The story of the happiest most successful people I know have found themselves at points of real despair and challange only though clinging on they have come to realise this was a necessary stop on the journey to arriving at their current state . 

To me for all the people that we have lost to suicide, had they just held on 24 hours maybe less maybe more to allow the fog to lift the dust to fall, the snow globe to settle and clear I really believe many would still be with us living there best lives !

A hard lesson to learn but one that reminds us that if and when we find our selves or others in a fog we must give this time to lift. We must hold on in the knowledge that like the seasons after winter comes summer, the light always follows the darkness …. But only if we let it!

The story of the happiest most successful people I know have found themselves at points of real despair and challange only though clinging on they have come to realise this was a necessary stop on the journey to arriving at their current state .  As Charlie Mackesy wrote “ We can’t stop the storm but we can let it pass"

The walk into the light message 

By walking by night through the darkness in to the morning sunrise we hope we can spread this message of hope to all involved young and old alike. 

The walk into the light is a simple physical and metaphorical message that regardless of our current state if in we find ourselves in darkness that this is a temporary state and that  if we can learn to hold on through and allow the darkness to pass the sun rise & light will flood back in to our lives to allow us to receive the reward of our happiest most fulfilled selves.

“If there’s hope in the future there is power in the present”

The first walk into the light event was conceived in 2020 and launched officially in 2021 to a raring success raising in excess of £20,000 all to be shared amongst the mental health support community in the NorthEast! The event was repeated in 2022, and has grown in strength with offshoots of possibility for the cause.

 This year our beautiful moonlight trek will start and end at Cod Beck reservoir, walking through forest trails whilst following part of the Cleveland Way and will be led throughout by expert guides from Over Limits.  

All of the funds raised will be distributed throughout Teesside-based mental health charities. This years event will begin at 11pm on Friday 14th July, we will start a 12-mile walk that will finish as the sun comes up.

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