Brave mum joins fight to help stop suicide

Rockingham mother Misty Calder has joined the Stepping Out of the Shadows campaign to help break down the stigma around suicide and raise vital funds for Lifeline.

Picture: Jon Gellweiler Picture: South Western Times

Article originally published on The West (click)

A Rockingham mother is lending her voice, pain and story to a Statewide campaign aiming to reduce the stigma of suicide.

Misty Calder’s world was turned upside down last year when she received the call no mother ever wants — the news that her 17-year-old son Sunee had taken his own life.

Now the brave mother-of-six is joining philanthropist and passionate suicide prevention advocate Ros Worthington to share her grief and add strength to the Stepping out of the Shadows campaign.

“Fifteen months ago we lost our son, he was 17 years old and he had everything to live for, he truly did,” Ms Calder said.

“I just didn’t know that he was suffering clearly with depression, and the thing that I’ve found is they hide it, they hide it behind the smiles, behind the laughter, their talents and he was so giving.

“I’ve grown to love Ros, the support that she’s given me and how she makes me feel brave and that with a little bit of strength it’s going to be OK — you can see the light in her and where she has been and where she is now, gives me hope.”

The campaign is the first of its kind and has been touring parts of WA for the past five weeks to help break down the stigma associated with speaking out about suicide and to raise much-needed money for Lifeline WA.

Dr Worthington is urging all West Australians to be a lifeline for Lifeline WA by donating $10, with hopes to raise $1 million before Christmas, enabling them to save more lives.

“Lifeline struggles financially, we don’t have enough volunteers to man the phones so it is quite serious, we need to raise that money,” she said.

Ms Calder said she hoped her story would encourage others to reach out.

“I want parents to ask those hard questions,” she said.

“If he had have just said ‘mum help me’, then we could have done it together — I just don’t want any mother to ever experience this.

“It has destroyed our family but we will mend those pieces, I will fight to teach my children to love life and live it to its fullest and I will always honour my son who wasn’t able to maybe see that strength in me.”

The campaign will visit Geraldton, Newman and Karratha in the coming weeks.

To become a lifeline for Lifeline WA visit www.lifelinewa.org.au.