10/09/2026
SU***DE DOESN’T START WITH SU***DE.
That’s the message I really want people to take from this video.
We spend a lot of time talking about su***de at the point of crisis. But if we’re serious about prevention, we have to understand everything that can happen before someone reaches that point.
The statistics tell us something important.
91% of middle-aged men who died by su***de had been in contact with a frontline service or agency.
67% had contact within the previous three months.
38% had contact within the WEEK before they died.
And 57% were experiencing economic adversity — unemployment, financial difficulties or housing problems.
52% were experiencing physical ill-health.
Then think about everything else that can build around somebody.
Losing a job. Debt. Cost-of-living pressures. Relationship breakdown. Bereavement. Trauma. Isolation. Addiction. Physical illness. Losing purpose.
These aren’t just mental health statistics.
They’re life statistics.
And very often, one problem doesn’t stay as one problem.
Financial pressure creates stress. Relationships suffer. Someone becomes isolated. Alcohol or drugs can become a coping mechanism. Mental health deteriorates. Debt gets worse. Eventually, someone can reach a point where they genuinely cannot see another way out.
That’s why I believe we need to look differently at su***de prevention.
Talking matters. Of course it does.
But talking alone isn’t enough.
What happens after someone talks?
Where do we send the person struggling with debt?
What happens to the person whose relationship has fallen apart?
Who supports somebody dealing with addiction, bereavement or trauma?
What happens when somebody asks for help but doesn’t fit neatly into one service?
And how do we intervene before somebody reaches crisis?
I’ve experienced su***de personally and I’ve lost people to su***de. Today I run Athletic Minds, a national mental health charity, and a huge part of what we’re trying to do is get further upstream.
Counselling and therapy. Physical activity. Education. Connection. Grief and loss support. Community. Giving people somewhere to go and somebody to turn to before everything becomes overwhelming.
About eight years ago, when I started changing my own life, getting back outside and into the mountains became part of that journey.
It gave me space. It cleared my head. It helped me reconnect with myself and start rebuilding my life.
That’s why I came back to Snowdon to record this.
We’ve got more conversations about mental health than we’ve ever had.
We’ve got men’s groups.
We’ve got campaigns telling people to talk.
All of that has value.
But we have to keep asking: what next?
Because su***de prevention isn’t just about catching somebody at the edge.
It’s understanding the chain of events that can take somebody there — and breaking that chain much earlier.
We can do better.
We must do better. 🤍
