Mental health lessons would help so many children

Kyle backs Daily Record call for suicide prevention training in schools

- BY RUTH SUTER

A DEVASTATED son who lost his father to suicide has backed the Record's calls for lifesaving mental health lessons in schools.

Kyle McMurray was only 10 when dad Christopher, 36, took his own life in 2005.

He now believes that suicide prevention training in schools could have helped his dad as a child - and would have been a lifeline for him as he struggled with his grief.

Now 31, he has opened up about the loss of his dad as he backed Record’s Save Young Lives campaign, which was set up last year in response to the youth mental health crisis in Scotland.

We have called on the Scottish Government ministers to fund suicide prevention training in every school.

Kyle, from Glasgow, said: “If the support tools had been in place for my dad as a kid, it could have helped him. He might have been here today.

“I know that it could have helped me navigate my own mental health after my dad died. 1 struggled with grief through school.

“Mental health lessons would be a lifeline for so many kids, especially in the age of social media where kids are exposed to so much.

“There is no doubt that suicide prevention lessons could help save lives.”