Mother shares ‘scary’ realisations about mental health following loss of ‘awesome’ 17-year-old son

Bradley Robertson tragically lost his mental health battle in January, and his mother Amanda has dedicated herself to keeping his legacy alive and making a difference ever since.

She recently hosted a charity walk and event for two worthy men’s mental health causes in memory of Bradley, and now wants to share her experience with others to keep important conversations going.

Amanda, from Brixworth, was asked to host a talk on Thursday (October 10) to mark World Mental Health Day. She shared her experience of losing Bradley and what it has taught her about mental health.

The ‘tea and talk’ event was organised by Coop in collaboration with the Intergenerational Playgroup, after Amanda connected with organiser Jasmine about the Coop contributing to her recent fundraiser.

When asked why it was important to her to get involved in the talk to mark World Mental Health Day, Amanda told the Chronicle & Echo: “I want Bradley’s name out there and for people to talk about mental health.

“I don’t have much experience with mental health, it was more Bradley’s situation. We did what we thought was right and got him to speak to someone.

“Mental health is definitely scary. It comes in very different forms. Once that seed’s in there, it has to be watched constantly and communication is key.

“Naively once he left school we thought he was good, as he displayed the signs that he was. Losing him caught us off guard as we thought we didn’t have to worry as much.”

Amanda shared that she always told Bradley that she did not mind who he spoke to as long as he spoke to someone.

“You just hope that the person they talk to will do something with that information,” she continued. “I don’t think I will ever understand mental health, and I wouldn’t want to understand where his head was at that time.”

Amanda will be advocating for greater care for mental health in schools moving forward, and has started reaching out to local councillors to gain their support.

She believes that when schools and colleges have files for students suffering with their mental health, they should be accompanied by a cover note or traffic light system to identify the level of support they require. Amanda believes the safeguarding files need to be regularly reviewed too.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” said Amanda. “Bradley was screaming out for help and each incident was just added to his file.”

The mother is committed to speaking up about important issues surrounding mental health and keeping Bradley’s memory alive.