Grieving mum carries 'baton of hope' for awareness

Poppy Hocken (left) lost her son Alex in 2016

A mother whose 30-year-old son took his own life has carried the baton on the final leg of a national campaign to raise mental health awareness.

Poppy Hocken, from Bath, lost her eldest son Alex in 2016 while he was training to be a nurse in Bristol.

She took part in a national campaign called Baton of Hope, which seeks to raise awareness of suicide among young people in the UK. It saw her carry the baton for part of its final journey through London earlier, after it had already travelled around the country.

"I'm very emotional, but very proud. Not just for raising awareness but for my family and for Alex, who we love dearly and we'll miss forever," said Ms Hocken.

Alex was described as someone who "didn't have a bad bone in his body"

The Baton of Hope campaign aims to raise awareness of suicide among young people and improve signposting, training and understanding.

The Baton of Hope tour has seen a specially made baton carried around the country by people affected by suicide and Ms Hocken was one of the last people to carry it as it travelled through London on its final leg.

"The baton is a symbol of mental health and wellbeing," said Mike McArthy, co-founder of Baton of Hope.

"We're hoping it will send out a signal to people who find themselves in darkness for whatever reason and say that there are armies of people out here who want to help and want to listen," he added.

"[Some] regard vulnerability as a weakness and its just not and we've got to change that attitude so people don't suppress emotional challenges."

Ms Hocken described her son Alex as "extremely unique", and someone who "always did his own thing".

"He was an extremely kind young man. I know it's very easy to say things like that when you lose a child but he was," she said.

Alex had previously struggled with mental health and Ms Hocken said it was not always easy to tell when he was struggling.

"We weren't always aware because being the eldest, being a boy, he didn't always share how he felt," she said.

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She said the night Alex died, she was contacted by the police when she was on her way to the hospital.

"I said are you trying to tell me my son has died? And that was it," she said.

"I still have flashbacks of sitting with Alex in A&E and when I saw him in the Chapel of Rest. Those memories don't go."

Ms Hocken is hoping that taking part in the Baton for Hope relay will help raise awareness and encourage others to connect with young people and understand how they are coping.

"I want people to connect with their young people and understand how they're coping, just to ask them how they feel and be aware that it is a possibility," she said.

"It's a difficult subject to talk about, I appreciate that, but we need people to be aware," she added.