Family and friends of a popular Bridlington man who sadly lost his life to suicide have completed an awareness walk in his honour.
Nigel Gorman tragically lost his battle with mental health problems on November 1st last year.
Due to the ongoing problems that Nigel had, his family wanted to raise awareness of breaking the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
Nigel was well know around the town, having studied at East Riding College, and playing football for several local teams in the Driffield and District League. He latterly worked at Burlington Infants school.
To keep the awareness going, his family and friends walked five-and-a-half miles wearing t.shirts dedicated to Nigel, with slogans of support written on the back to get the message out to passers-by, locals and visitors.
His daughter Ayischa spoke to the Echo to tell the story of her dad in the hope that men who are struggling with mental health will reach out and promote the mantra ‘when in doubt walk it out.’
“As a family we decided to not walk for donations this time, but to walk only to create awareness for the end of Mental Health Awareness week.
“Suicide is currently one of the biggest killers of men in the UK and we know my dad was not the only one who was struggling so the walk was purely to highlight and help break the silence and the stigma around mental health.”
After Nigel died, his family and friends decided to raise donations for the charity MenWalkTalk. They raised a grand total of just over £1,000 for the MenWalkTalk charity (www.menwalktalk.co.uk).
Nigel had often talked about wanting to form a mens walking/talking group in the Bridlington area as he knew just how important walking, talking and being with nature was for his own mental health.
“We want to help promote positive change and encourage the mantra ‘when in doubt walk it out’ and for people who are suffering to use this phrase.” said Ayischa.
“My dad was loved by so many people in his short life and if raising awareness could help just one other person who is struggling then something good will have come out of his personal torment.
“Also there is no other mental health or smaller charity around us at the time to donate to, which is unfortunate as we would love to give to something more locally.
Unfortunately he wasn’t able to do this before he left us however, this is something that as a family we are looking at taking forward for him.
“Massive thanks to all who walked with us and to those who couldn’t join but were a massive support helping this come together.” added Ayischa.
