'Suicidal grief is on a whole different level'

Two people who had never met until their two brothers, who were best friends, took their own lives five years apart, have started a new charity.

Farmer Robert Chapman from Oundle in Northamptonshire was 29 when he died in 2014. His friend and fellow farmer, Max Hunter from Tilbrook in Cambridgeshire, was 28.

Kate Scott, 41, and Lewis Hunter, 31, now aim to offer mental health first aid and educational talks to those living and working in rural communities across Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

"Grief in itself is awful, but suicidal grief is a whole different level of complexity," Ms Scott said.

Since her brother's death, Ms Scott has raised more than £60,000 for mental health charities.

She said: "Robert and I weren't just brother and sister, we were really good friends."

Mr Hunter said his brother Max was "the last person you would expect to suffer from mental health issues".

In September 2023, he met Kate at a fundraiser for the charity PAPYRUS, which is a national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

They have since formed their own charity, the Rural Communities Mental Health Foundation.

"We would like to educate local people who work with farmers, such as vets, to be trained to spot the signs of poor mental health and get conversations started," Mr Hunter said.

He said working on a farm can be a lonely job, not seeing anyone all day.

"If the worries are in your head, you can keep bottling them up, but there is help available," he said.

It has taken the pair almost a year to set up the charity, which was officially launched on World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.

Ms Scott said they hoped to "go into schools, universities and colleges to offer age-appropriate teaching and awareness around mental health".

She said her greatest hope was to "prevent people from doing what they did, reaching crisis point and stop families going through what we have".

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.

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