Mother Who Lost Her Son To Bullies Breaks Down | This Morning

and I don't want to dwell too much on the day when he took his own life and that that morning and he went he was meant to be getting the the bus to school um and he and he didn't go I was meant to be catching the train and um he didn't get to school and the school called me and said that somebody had seen him getting off a bus in a local Village and I knew that he knew some people in that Village so I thought that could he he'd been upset and I thought maybe he'd gone to speak to this friend he had there so we went to look for him but and yeah that's fine we we know what happened the rest of that day had you you had no inkling that day no that that's what he would do and and if for anybody and I'm going to have to say it for anybody who missed it but he threw himself in in front of the train yeah um but there was no indication nothing that had said that any day was going to be any sadder than the day before no and we we talked you know in a general sense about suicide before and um he he said to me don't worry Mom I'd never do that because I'm not brave enough go this was April the 16th this year so it's still so incredibly raw for you and your family yeah um and which is why you wrote the letter yeah it's been running around in my head for you know every time I take the dog for a walk the words were in my head and I just I I desperately need to raise awareness I desperately need for people to talk about this to talk to their children for teachers to train for parents to you know guide their children through all this stuff that they find and look at and they you know they have the physical and mental knowhow how to find everything but they haven't got the emotional maturity to interpret it with it as well and it's frightening in your letter there was the word that is repeated all the way through and you talk about a lot is kindness yeah it's really simple just be kind it's it's a sort of a a thing that I think we're missing in our teaching and our talking um you know it's it's very cool to be Snappy and hit with the banter but not to be kind and I you know I found something that just resonated with me you know is it is it true is it necessary and is it kind before you write anything down because once it's written down it's there well you say there's something that that uh that I picked up on I've been told that everyone says things they don't mean on social media unkindness is dismissed as banter and because they cannot see the effect of their words they don't believe that there is one yeah and do you believe that that great sway of bullies individually Small Things yeah collectively enormous crushing for him do you think they knew what they were doing to him I think a lot of them didn't to be fair I don't think a lot of them did I think it was just they get carried away you know on Facebook groups it things turn into a hate Fest very easily just one person says something a bit nasty and it rolls and it becomes this huge thing but I think they switch off their computer and don't think about it anymore and when I drove to the attention of somebody this is what I got the everyone says what they don't mean on social media and possibly that person didn't but you don't know the impact of your words and actions and words have consequences can I just ask you and this is a tough one I don't even know whether you'll be able to answer it but retrospectively for other parents watching now is there anything you think looking back that you that you missed that you could have done it's it's it's very difficult because Felix was resistant to the changes I wanted to make I wanted him to move schools we'd even contemplated moving cities thinking Fresh Start get away but that would have made him lose even more confidence and he just dug in his heels and said no I'm not doing it I'm not doing it you know why would you do that to me um I wish I'd talked more I wish I'd shouted from the rooftop what was happening and made people listen and pay attention but you feel isolated you feel you're on your own and it's only afterwards I've had letters I've had cards I've had messages from so many parents so many children who saying thank you for talking thank you for speaking out and you know this is something we have to talk about we have to all collectively bring this up you're um you're working very closely with place to be the the charity um and that's what they're there for yes they they bring help into schools this is what we're missing there's there's no safe place for kids to be they come in and support children they support teachers as well you know we're not expecting teachers to be psychotherapists but they can help direct they can help spot signs they have a massive overview of all the kids and they can see that one's struggling that one's not being very nice why are they not being I don't want children punished I want them helped and place to be does that it supports children teachers and parents and you know we've raised over £145,000 so far well done you which means something for lots of children yeah mean it's such a a new world for teachers it's a new world because they have the the the use of social media um the benefits of social media the threat of social media the pitfalls all of those things are new and as you said um the young people have access to it but not necessarily the the where with to cope with what it is that they're seeing or to deal with any abuse that they may be having so it is a whole new world that address it's a very steep learning curve really steep learning curve and we're way behind there's no big incident where we go this is this is terrible oh you can go and report this to the teacher it's the small little tiny things over a Time cut absolutely absolutely and it just became progressively worse

Channel: This Morning

Views: 424,817

Keywords: celebrity interviews, celebrity gossip, tv news, soap news, holly willoughby, real stories, phillip schofield, this morning, ruth langsford, eamonn holmes, morning show, breakfast tv, bullies, bullying, Lucy Alexander, suicide, part 2, felix, emotional, cry, train, son, kindness, letter, social media, place to be

Id: BbU-x5T5Pmw

Length: 6min 24sec (384 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 06 2016