“Having the purpose of doing the event has definitely helped me somewhat,” Annette said. Over the years, Winter Solstice grew in strength, drawing speakers such as Ian Roberts, Kerry O’Brien, Samuel Johnson, Stan Grant and Robin Williams’ son Zak Williams, each talking about how suicide had impacted their lives and their families.

Winter Solstice was conceived as a way for community to come together and talk about their experiences of losing loved ones to suicide, “sharing music, words, food and warmth to offer a little bit of healing and a little bit of hope.” Speakers Jo Robinson, Zak Williams and Indira Naidoo at the 2022 Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice was so named because it symbolises the longest, darkest night of the year - but the solstice also heralds the return of the light and the sun. “So we started something called The Winter Solstice in 2013, and this year has been our 10th year of hosting the event.” “After Mary’s death, my husband Stuart and I found that there really was an event for everything, other than those surviving a suicide,” Annette said. Mary died in 2011, at the age of just 15.

poor treatment leads to a poor outcome, and that’s what happened with Mary.” “Right back at the start, if we’d had good quality care. “We just plugged away with our lives, stupidly thinking that this was just what it was going to be like forever.

“We saw a pediatrician every now and then, a psychologist that was recommended to us, but there was nothing offered to us to say, ‘well, this isn’t a normal life that you’re leading.’ Annette said the support offered to the family during this tough time was minimal.

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