Jess
Didn't get to celebrate his 21st birthday
My youngest son's name is Jess Benjamin Fairweather and he didn't get to celebrate his 21st birthday.
It's really hard to find the words to describe him because he was just himself, well he was Jess. He was unique, there was nobody quite like him.
A memory I have of Jess is of him dressed up as a teddy bear. He was about 19 and he was going to a Halloween party with his best friend. He seemed quite proud of himself because he'd made the costume. I remember if you pressed on his nose it was a mechanical nose that went 'Roooaaarrr' and it's such a lovely, lovely memory of him.
I think nowadays we're bombarded with information, bad news and so much tragedy in this world, that I think in some way we've kind of become a bit immune to it. So perhaps when we hear about a suicide it might not touch us.
Knowledge will help. CALM have a CALM C.A.R.E. Kit, which will take you through how you can support young people if they're really struggling. I think if you have that knowledge then together we can all make a change. So for me it's having the knowledge, and with that comes empowerment. With empowerment comes action and change.
I'm hoping people experiencing the installation will start to feel compelled to take action because this is really serious, because we are losing lives and we have to do something about it.
