School assembly told 'it's OK not to be OK'

Jane Beardsley arranged a special school assembly by Tom Dickinson

A mental health campaigner has spoken at a specially-organised school assembly, arranged by a Nottinghamshire mum bereaved by suicide.

Tom Dickinson spoke at The Dukeries Academy, in Ollerton, where a local community interest company says seven families lost loved ones in the town to suicide between June 2021 and July 2023.

The event was set up by resident Jane Beardsley, whose son Paul took his own life in January 2022, at the age of 31, prompting her to begin raising awareness of suicide prevention.

Addressing a hall of school pupils on Monday, Mr Dickinson, 28, shared his brother's story and spoke about his own struggles with depression after finding his brother dead.

He told the BBC: "I think it's one of the most important things I'll ever do in my life. Ultimately, Tom's Talks was founded because I wanted to avoid any other family having to go through what we went through."

Mr Dickinson lost his brother to suicide in 2015, and has set up a company to raise awareness of mental health and "let people know it's OK not to be OK".

Mr Dickinson has held similar talks at schools across the country as part of his company, Tom's Talks

Mrs Beardsley said: "I thought he sounded like a really positive guy who can interact with children, and we thought we'll go to the local school, and we'll target as many children as we can to give them the tools to go forward in life with the stresses [that come with it]."

She said she believed mental health was still "pushed under the carpet" and wanted to "get youngsters talking".

"Whether it's to each other, to their parents, or to their friends - it'll build bricks for the future," she said.

Recalling what she called the "worst pain" she had felt when her son died, she said: "We had no idea he was struggling, he seemed happy-go-lucky.

"Life seemed fine, and then obviously it wasn't, and he took his own life."

She launched a community interest company called Paul's Pitstop to help invest in the mental health of Ollerton's community after learning her son was one of seven men in the area, aged under 40, who took their lives within a three-year period.

"We're just a small town, we're a big village really, and it's horrendous, the numbers," she said.

Mrs Beardsley with her son Paul, who she described as someone who was "happy-go-lucky"

Aminah Javed, assistant principal for safeguarding and inclusion at The Dukeries Academy, said: "It's really important that we destigmatise the conversation around mental health so students feel that they can broach the topic - they can come to us if they've got any concerns."

If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available via the BBC Action Line.

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