Tuesday the 10th of September is World Suicide Prevention Day and an Out of the Shadows Walk hosted by Lifeline South Coast is happening in Batemans Bay.
The walk will depart from the water tanks at the Hanging Rock Sporting Complex from 5:45am and cross the Batemans Bay Bridge and return to Hanging Rock.
But some will be walking from 9am on Sunday instead, including Eurobodalla locals Deanne Griffin, and Julie Irwin who both lost their teenage sons way to soon.
Julie (pictured above with husband Jimmy at the Billy Irwin Tennis Family Fun day organised by Next Generation Tennis in Moruya) told iHeart Far South Coast it’s a good time for those who have been impacted by the suicide of a loved one, to get around each other.
“Social media is great like that, you can locate each other and you can get such comfort from not neccesarily talking but just being with somebody who just gets it, and seems to know all the right things to say,” Mrs Irwin said.
“They also know that you like to talk about your child, not neccesarily the trauma but to remember them.”
Julie now offers trauma-based counselling and one off events for particularly women and children who may be going through situational distress, or have been affected by the suicide of a loved on at moruyacounselling.com.
Listen to Julie’s story on this week’s iHeart Far South Coast podcast below.
This episode contains conversations about suicide that some may find distressing. If this raises issues for you or someone you know, call Lifeline 24/7 on 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au.
Also supporting those impacted by suicide loss is the StandBy Support After Suicide group, available between 6am and 10pm on 1300 727 247.
