Monday’s programme saw a poignant moment which highlighted the number of young suicides since 2014…
Today on This Morning, hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley joined the CEO of mental health charity CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably – Simon Gunning and Director of Services Wendy Robinson at Westfield London, White City, as the charity launched its “Missed Birthdays” campaign to highlight the 6,929 young people who have taken their life in the last decade.
“I arrived about two hours ago and it looks like the most incredible celebration from a distance, and as you come closer to it, we’ve got lots of displays around the shopping centre to bring people in gently so they understand that, as you said, every single balloon is an age that somebody didn’t reach. I think as a parent, birthday balloons are not just about where that child has got to, it’s about where they’re going to go next, and for everybody here, just shy of 7000 young people who have died in the last decade, they’re not going to reach that birthday. So, the tragedy starts that conversation, because we know the conversation is a lifesaver.” – CEO of mental health charity CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably – Simon Gunning
As part of the long running ITV programme’s six year relationship with CALM – the show launched Project 84 in 2018 and put 84 male statues on the roof of the ITV Tower in London, each one a life sized reminder of the number of men who in that year, took their own life each week. In response, 400,000 people signed CALM’s petition for government action on suicide and resulted in the government appointing the world’s first ever Minister for Suicide Prevention. The campaign also resulted in a 34% increase in the use of CALM’s helpline.
Six years on, Simon and Wendy revealed a new installation at the shopping centre – there for the next three days – between 9th and 11th September – featuring 6929 birthday balloons that each represents a young person, between the age of 15 and 34, who has tragically taken their own life during the last decade and never got to celebrate their next birthday.
“It’s every emotion you could possibly have. I think it’s like, really proud to be part of something like this that will draw people’s attention in, then the absolute sadness to know that every single one of them represents not only the young person who’s no longer with us, but the devastation for those families as well. We couldn’t have done this without the families who’ve been involved, and that’s really marvellous that they want to raise awareness because this is something we can prevent.” – Westfield London Director of Services Wendy Robinson
Visitors will be able to walk through the installation and hear voice notes from loved ones who have lost a young person to suicide, describing what they were like and what they hope to achieve being part of the “Missed Birthdays” campaign.
Simon said: “As you walk through, there are voice notes from the incredible families that have worked with us to put this together, and you can hear them talking about the young person that they lost. It’s heartbreaking but it’s inspiring, because this is also about hope.
“Every single person, in making their voice note said that they talked about all sorts of things that we talk to our younger children, our teenagers, about and we feel we’re okay to talk about – violence and drugs and even sex – but nobody talks about suicide. So, it becomes something which is in the dark, which is full of shame, but when we bring it out of there, when we talk to those young people around us, then they can seek help when they need it.”
The family of 19-year-old Amelia Butlin, who sadly took her own life in 2023, also joined Ben and Cat back in the studio as Amelia’s mum Becci opened up on seeing the installation for the first time: “It’s quite ‘wow’. The kind of colour really hits you and you know, there’s not much colour when you’re kind of going through this type of loss. But, just the number of young people… and you know how to prevent that number growing, is just really poignant.”
There is a 20th birthday balloon on display in Westfield today to mark the first birthday that Amelia missed following her suicide.
Later in the show, Sian Welby spoke to members of the public to get their reaction to CALM’s campaign and the new installation, explaining: “I’ve just got down here and I’ve been blown away by this installation. I think it sort of took me by surprise a little bit. It does give you that sort of feeling where you lose your breath, because it’s not only the sheer amount of the balloons, but then seeing the ages on each and every one of these, it’s just unbelievable to see 21, 25 you know, 17, 16, such young people. We know that this represents this birthday, and for every balloon, there’s family members as friends that have also suffered the loss. And it’s absolutely heartbreaking. Of course, it’s caught the attention of all the shoppers and people passing by.”
Sian then spoke to the sister of one of those represented by a balloon, who said: “I think the good thing about this installation is that we see a lot of stats in headlines and this makes it a lot more real, to be honest. The sheer number of balloons and what the Missed Birthdays represents – and the fact that you can kind of walk through. I just hope that it gets the traction it deserves because we need to talk about a lot more. I know everybody says that, but yeah, we need to talk about it, because it’s a crisis.”
Simon Gunning told Sian: “It’s that phrase ‘stopping people in their tracks’. That’s what it’s doing and it looks like an incredible celebration. As you get closer, you understand the tragedy, but because we have the tools in place with the CALM care kit, people are coming to us asking for help, and we’re ready to give it to them, for them to use.”
As described on their website, the CALM C.A.R.E. Kit helps you take action to protect the young people in your life from suicide. Details can be found here: https://www.thecalmzone.net/about-calm-care-kit
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is a suicide prevention charity fighting to reduce the devastating impact of suicide in the UK. The charity has a helpline run by professionals for anyone affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts – it’s free, anonymous and open from 5pm to midnight every day. Following the ‘Missed Birthdays’ installation, all balloons will be donated to the Children’s SCRAP project to be used in arts and crafts.
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