In this blog, we chat about Mike, Andy & Tim- also known as the 3 Dads Walking. They coined ‘the club that no one wants to be part of’, the 3 dads all lost their daughters to suicide and have staged two country-spanning walks to support the charity, PAPYRUS (Prevention of Young Suicide), and to raise awareness of the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of under-35s in the UK.
Mike, Andy & Tim connected with each other in circumstances that no parent wants to find themselves in - losing a child. Beth (Mike’s daughter), Sophie (Andy’s daughter) and Emily (Tim’s daughter) took their own lives, and the 3 dads have channelled their immeasurable loss and grief into helping others.
By raising awareness, the dads have been able to ensure that conversation around admittedly difficult topics stays open and relevant in society. Most importantly, their efforts have helped to signpost where young people who are struggling can access support without feeling stigmatised.
The 3 dads are not only breaking the taboo and stigma of speaking about suicide, but they’re also campaigning to ensure that suicide prevention is made a compulsory part of the school curriculum (at the moment it’s not compulsory and schools can opt out of covering it). To ensure they reach their goal, the dads launched a government petition last September and over 157,000 people have already signed, triggering the threshold for parliament to debate the issue in a session scheduled for 13th March 2023.
The 3 dads have been prolific in their efforts to ensure suicide continues to be talked about – to date, they’ve staged two walks, the first in 2021 and the second in 2022, they’ve launched the petition mentioned above, have appeared on television repeatedly, and have met with numerous politicians to raise the issue of suicide education on the curriculum and shatter the stigma that sounds surrounds it.
In this episode of Tea with the Changemakers, the 3 dads bravely tell us their stories, how they’re campaigning for change, and their plans for changing the way suicide is talked about in schools. Although this episode does contain conversations about suicide, the 3 dad’s enthusiasm and hunger for change is infectious, so we hope that you enjoy listening, as they continue to speak out and use their own experiences to ensure young people know how and where to get help.
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