Suicide awareness trust launched

Cutting the cake at last week's launch of the Through the Other Side Trust are (from left) Kelsie Whitty, Julie Moyle, Nikki Cockburn, and Lisa Smart. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Nikki Cockburn’s dream of creating a trust that supports suicide awareness has become a reality.

Miss Cockburn launched her Through the Other Side Trust last Thursday, at a function at Wains Hotel, in Dunedin.

The trust is named after the book, Through the Other Side, which Miss Cockburn published in 2014 to describe her ‘‘personal journey’’ after the suicide of her partner in 2002.

Speaking at the launch, Miss Cockburn said she had hoped something positive could come out of her loss.

‘‘I wanted to help people. I wanted to stop people from going through what I did, and from going through what he did,’’ she said.

Accordingly, she put her dreams of a trust into action, with the aim of educating people on suicide prevention via training workshops and community meetings.

The trust also aims to raise funds to support the ongoing publication and distribution of Through the Other Side.

Miss Cockburn’s mission is to provide copies of the book to all New Zealand schools, libraries, public and private health services, and to people seeking support.

So far, the trust has helped raised more than $6000 to fund 1000 copies of the book, and to sponsor people to attend suicide prevention workshops.

On August 28, Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall released provisional suicide figures for 2016-17, which showed 606 deaths by suicide.

‘‘That’s 606 people too many,’’ Miss Cockburn said.

The most important thing we could do as a community was to ‘‘support people, by listening, being there, and by showing up and caring’’.

★ A tree planting ceremony celebrating the launch of the Through the Other Side Trust will be held on September 16, from 2pm at the rose garden in Mosgiel Memorial Gardens, Gordon Rd. This will be followed by afternoon tea in the Downes Room at Mosgiel Library.