1 week Ago By Damon Cronshaw
Josh Hewitt remembers brother Jake as a "very funny, kind young bloke", whose death left his family forever wondering what could have been. Login or signup to continue reading Jake Hewitt took his life at age 24 in Singleton, where he lived. Josh, of Cooks Hill, will honour Jake's memory by walking in Lifeline Hunter 's Out of the Shadows Walk in Newcastle on Tuesday.
"There were definitely signs he was in trouble . He was experiencing difficulties in life that really stacked up," Josh said. "In the end, we never really thought it was quite so unbearable for him.
" He said life "started to fall apart for him a little bit". "It wasn't necessarily out of the blue. He lost his job, got into a bit of drug use - synthetic marijuana," he said.
"That coupled with grog and antidepressants left him in a bad place." The walk marks World Suicide Prevention Day, which aims to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Health data shows 1552 people took their lives in Hunter New England from 2011 to 2022.
Josh will walk 11 kilometres in Tuesday's event "because it's been 11 years" since Jake died. "The goal was to raise $1100, which I've flown past." He said the walk was also about "participating in something with other people in our family's position".
"There will be a lot of people with their own goals and personal reasons for taking part in the walk," he said. "Everybody's circumstances are unique, but the one thing that sadly we have in common is that we have lost someone to suicide and mental illness." Mental health presentations for emergency departments in the district numbered 5129 in the first quarter of this year - the highest figure in available records.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 44. Josh sometimes thinks about what could have been for Jake. "There's been a lot of changes in our family's lives - things that he wasn't there for," he said.
"There was so much ahead of him. There's grief from losing the person and brother that I knew, without having a chance to see his life coming to pass. "He did anything he could for people he loved.
Once he decided that he loved you, that was it, he was all in." This year's World Suicide Prevention Day theme is: "We all have a role to play". The day aims to reduce stigma and encourage conversation to help those facing crisis feel more comfortable about reaching out for support.
Lifeline also encourages people to "reach in", by asking if they are OK and "being alongside them as they answer". Crisis supporters from Lifeline Hunter's service answered 10,426 calls in the past year. Lifeline's head of community partnerships Patrick Calabria said "the walk is a powerful way to reflect on lived experiences relating to suicide or suicide attempts".
Lifeline Hunter CEO Robert Sams said it was "through awareness that we grow a greater understanding of suicide". "Talking through things can help bring suicide out of the shadows, so we can shine a light on this important issue," Mr Sams said. The Lifeline walk will occur at 6.
30am on Tuesday from Dixon Park Surf Life Saving Club to Merewether Baths and back. Participants can register for the walk at hunter.lifeline.
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