Suicide loss group 'helps to heal pain'
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THE family of a Black Isle father-of-three who took his own life after he struggled to cope with depression believe they are now helping others to handle their grief.
More than 80 people so far have attended Patrick and Wendy Mullery’s suicide support group, which was founded in memory of their son James.
The 28-year-old car salesman died last October.
The Mullerys, of Bayview Crescent, Cromarty, together with James’s long-term partner Jodie, who is the mother of his three children, run the monthly meet-up at Mercure Inverness Hotel, paying the heavily-discounted room hire cost out of their own pockets.
Mr Mullery (57), a commercial waste manager for Highland Waste Services in Invergordon, said he was surprised at the group’s high turnout, which is now gearing up for its sixth session.
"It’s more than we expected which just shows there is a need," he said.
"People come along and just share their experiences. I would say it is helping us too. It’s a very emotional meet-up and we are all pretty tired at the end of it but it’s really rewarding knowing that people have been able to off-load and it’s hopefully helping them."
He added: "We also have a clinical psychologist who has been coming along since the first week. She is really passionate about listening to people’s stories and trying to help."
And he said, evidently, the shock and pain of losing a close loved-one to suicide was so deep, it never goes away.
"Some people who come were bereaved 30 years ago by this and they’re still bursting into tears," he said.
The next meeting of James’s Support Group is at Mercure Inverness Hotel in Church Street, on Sunday, September 30, between 11am-1pm.
It is free and anyone can attend.
