North Yorkshire man organises tour to promote a Zero Suicide society
The Join the Dots tour will travel from East to West to raise awareness of suicide numbers
A new tour has been announced, that will travel across Northern England aiming to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide each year.
The Join The Dots tour, organised by The Jordan Legacy Project, will start in Scunthorpe, before travelling to York, across Lincolnshire, Greater Manchester, and ending on Merseyside.
It will feature a series of arts, sports and mental health events all designed to open up the conversation about suicide, and promote ways to bring numbers down to as close to zero as possible.
Join the Dots tour venues in June 2024
Events will take place on the following dates at the following locations, with updated event information on the Join the Dots website
- June 13th – York
- June 14th – Leeds/Wakefield
- June 15th – Leeds
- June 16th – Halifax/Huddersfield
- June 17th Rochdale/Oldham
- June 18th – Bury
- June 19th – Wigan
- June 20th – Warrington
- June 21st – St Helens, Wirral
- June 21st – Bootle
- June 22nd/23rd – Liverpool & Bootle
Among the activities taking place, a two day conference will feature suicide awareness talks from the sister of Headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life following an Ofsted inspection, and Mike "3 Dads Walking" Palmer, who lost a child to suicide.
A 34 mile bike ride across Yorkshire will symbolise the daily journey of event organisor Steve Phillip's son, who died by suicide at the age of 34 four years ago.
And a two days arts and events festival in Bootle will celebrate the commitment and hard work of the suicide prevention community.
Tour designed to open up the suicide conversation
Speaking to the Mental Health Monday Podcast, Jordan Legacy founder Steve Phillip, who is from Harrogate, said: "Suicide can affect anyone, but the upside of that is that anyone can prevent suicide.
"So what we want to do is to say we need a suicide-educated and activated public. This is something for everyone to get educated about.
"We need better knowledge, I know that as a parent who was badly educated. Had I had the knowledge I have now, I would have had very different conversations with my son, and we might not be having this conversation today."
As well as organising the Join The Dots tour, Steve has worked with mental health experts and organisations to produce the Zero Suicide Society guide to look at practical ways to reduce the numbers of deaths to suicide in the UK.
Thousands of lives lost to suicide each year
On average, someone dies every 90 minutes by suicide somewhere in the country.
Steve hopes the conversations he has over the course of the tour will help promote ways to bring those numbers down rapidly.
He told us: "If you ask any school, any family, any workplace how many suicides are acceptable in your location, without question each one would say nothing is acceptable in terms of a suicide death."
Find out more about the Join the Dots tour
Listen to Steve Phillip's conversation on the Mental Health Monday Podcast in full
There are signposting services at the end of the podcast.
Find mental health services where you are, and links to helpful helplines at the Hub of Hope