Loved ones of people lost to suicide will gather in Perth at 4am this weekend for a torchlit Light of Life walk to raise awareness of mental health.
Tracy Swan, whose daughter Jodie McNab took her own life at Murray Royal Hospital in 2013, has organised the walks since 2015 when it was previously called Darkness into Light.
The mum told The Courier the procession is in memory of all those lost to suicide while raising awareness of self-harm and the support networks now in place around the Fair City.
Tracy, who began The Lighthouse for Perth following her daughter’s death, hopes that hundreds of people will gather with them at the South Inch shortly before 4am on Saturday, May 7.
Previous years have gathered around 150 walkers but Tracy expects more to join their first event in two years after the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s good to talk
She said: “It’s a good thing for people to come along and they can speak to people who have been through the same thing as they have.
“Things have gotten worse over the last two years. There’s a lot of suicides in Perth that have gone under the radar.
“It’s a moment of reflection to everyone.”
A number of support groups for mental health, including The Lighthouse, Andy’s Man Club and Linda’s Ladies, have been set up in Perth and Kinross over the last few years
“I’m hoping this year will be a lot bigger because we have a lot of groups set up now.
“There’s so many different mental health services in Perth now so hopefully they will get out there.”
‘A group of us have lost kids’
Tracy began the remembrance walks with families of other young people lost to suicide.
“There was a group of us that have all lost kids to suicide but since then it has been growing.”
The walk has changed its name this year to Light of Life so as not to get confused with the Darkness into Light walk which began in Dublin before becoming an international event.
Tracy has asked anyone joining the walk to bring a torch and said she will also have a bucket of candles.
The procession will leave the South Inch at 4am and make its way along Tay Street before sunrise.
Murray Royal Hospital
Tracy’s daughter Jodie McNab took her own life on Moredun Ward at Murray Royal Hospital aged 22.
In 2020, NHS Tayside were fined £120,000 for criminal failings which led to her death and the deaths of the two other women on the same ward, Rebecca Sangster and Jacqueline Proctor.
Less than ten months later in January 2021 another young woman, Celine Dinis, died following an incident on Moredun.
Earlier this year, an investigation by The Courier, uncovered that a fifth patient had also died following an incident on the ward.
Read our Moredun Ward Investigation
Inside Moredun Ward: Investigation uncovers fifth death at disgraced Perth mental health facility
