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Painful memories may lead to opening of the Shop of Hope

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Matthews Yard hosted a packed charity benefit gig last night, where a moving reflection was heard from a Purley resident about her son’s suicide, as Patti Boyle sought backing to try to avoid other mothers losing their children in such a manner by providing a safe haven for those suffering mental health crises.

The Shop of Hope will offer a more viable alternative as a refuge for those in crisis than the Accident and Emergency department of a local hospital.

The ambition is to set up a base with a resource of information for those suffering from depression or other mental health issues, and their parents or carers. It will also have a recovery room with a counsellor. Both art and music therapy could also be offered.

The event came just two days after a 10-minute rule bill debate was held in the House of Commons led by Dr William McCrea MP to draw attention to how prevalent suicide is and to the dangers and relatively easy availability of “suicide packages” on the internet.

At the Surrey Street meeting, Patti Boyle spoke of the loss of her son, Kevin, and how she welcomed that both parliament and the South London and Maudsley Trust were listening to the concerns she was raising.

She spoke of the suicide kit that had been sent to Kevin from the internet, and of the 101 days that she and her family had to wait before the discovery of her son’s body by Farthing Down.

On any average day in the UK, as many as nine men take their own lives, leaving behind their families to grieve.

She spoke from the heart to those who might seek escape through suicide of how “there is no deliverance in death” and how as a mother she “was buying a coffin instead of a morning suit for a wedding, arranging a wake not a wedding reception”.

Kevin Boyle had suffered from the long-term trauma of abuse as a young child from outside the family. Patti Boyle said she felt that the courts system had let Kevin down.


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