Choir sings to raise awareness of mental health help

"It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Annabelle Underwood found out on New Years Day, eight years ago, her ex-husband and her son's father had taken his own life.

"I had to walk up the stairs to tell him something which would change his life and hurt him horrifically," she said, adding: "It was heartbreaking."

She is one of the members from Resonate choir, based in Bournemouth, who sings on the recording of charity single, Find the Light.

The song was released to raise awareness of mental health support available to people in crisis.

It was written by Lorna Hackett, a human rights barrister from Hampshire and a trustee of the charity Silence of Suicide (SOS).

Call volumes have tripled to the service in the last three months.

She said it was great the people were reaching out because it showed the stigma over mental health was "diminishing".

"This time of year, it's very dark and there are lots of people struggling," she continued.

"What we wanted to do was write a song which gave people hope and light in the dark months of the year."

Ms Underwood said she and her son had talked about mental health, and every Christmas she was aware of people being under extra pressure and stress.

Singing the words about dark and light connected with her, she admitted.

"We all have dark periods in life," she said.

"We have times where everything seems difficult, where we are depressed or we think, 'this is awful'.

"But you will come through it and I just would urge anyone feeling in crisis to talk to someone."

Silence of Suicide