STORY

Most days, a little blackbird can be seen hopping around the garden, waiting expectantly for a few crumbs or eagerly planning a dip in his pot of water.

This bird symbolises many things – loss, pain, hope, joy. It represents a special person who, on 12 November 2018, left this family forever. 18 years of togetherness gone in an instant. A broken wife, and two young children, Evie and Ada, left to pick up the pieces.

This family faced indescribable challenges when they suddenly shifted from four to three. Caroline shares all she has learnt about loss through suicide since Steve became one of those 6,000 people who die like this every year in the UK. She describes the many ways others can take comfort from the strength that emerged when this union of three, this mighty little triangle, began to heal.

Transforming this grief into hope-filled action, Caroline combines her lived experience with a decade of working in employee communications to create openness around topics like mental health, loss and grief, and to improve the way we talk about suicide, promoting the services that exist to prevent it.