**Sensitive Content: Discusses suicide and loss. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains an image and the name of a person who has died.**

When she lost her partner Adam to suicide in August of 2022, Perrin lost her world.

Through time, searching, and the support of AnglicareSA’s StandBy Support After Suicide, Perrin’s story is now one of hope and one she will share at the annual Walk Through the Darkness and into the Light event on Saturday 23 November 2024.

Beginning in 2009, the event marks International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day and brings together the community in memory of a loved one, to support others bereaved by suicide, and to focus on suicide prevention.

“Adam was the first man I introduced to my Indian parents and that’s a big deal for my generation,” Perrin said.famil

“My parents loved him – there wasn’t a better person than him.

 

 

“Adam took his life on the fourth of August 2022. This is not something you think is going to happen to you, and so it’s not something you can ever prepare for.”

“Being alone in Adelaide, I did not know how or where to seek this sort of support. So I Googled for help and StandBy came up.

“I thought, ‘Okay, I have to call them because I was so numb at that point; that pain was just too intense. My only focus at that time was to keep myself alive.”

 

 

StandBy Support after Suicide is one of four AnglicareSA programs in the suicide prevention area that support two at-risk groups – people following a suicide attempt and people bereaved by suicide.

“(Standby Coordinator) Michelle was lovely,” Perrin said. “It was not about counselling, it was an opportunity to share my grief with someone in a safe, non-judgmental space – someone I could be myself with even though they were a stranger.

“It’s also about understanding what you’re going through is not in isolation, there are others that you can connect with and who will understand.”

Perrin continued to be supported by Michelle, staying in contact once a week for some time, and then once every month for a couple of months.

“Then, while you never get back to normal because there will never be a normal to get back to anymore, you slowly start to allow daily life and work back in which is important to keep you going.”

Working with the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia as well as her experience within the mental health space, Perrin was driven by her personal loss to become involved in suicide prevention, finding purpose in this meaningful work.

She has since spoken at the memorial service held as part of the 2024 National Suicide Prevention Conference in Adelaide as well as a second service held in Sydney.

“It was the first time I was able to share mine and Adam’s story in public, but the intention was to instill hope when people talk about it, and acknowledge our loved ones who have taken their lives and are no longer with us physically.”

“I would like to honour him, the kind of person he was, the work he did, what he stood for, simply everything about Adam and want more people to know who he was.”

“My talk is titled – The Best Human I Knew, because he truly was the best human I knew.

“What that has resulted in is the connection with other people feel – one of them shared that it felt like ‘you were talking about my son’.”

 

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In Australia, about nine people a day end their own lives. Suicide is the leading cause of premature death, and the main cause of death among people aged 15 to 44. We lose more people to suicide than deaths on our roads each year.

Join our Walk Through Darkness and into the Light event at 5am at West Beach or Tennyson Beach, and walk in solidarity with those touched by suicide. You can join for part or all of the journey or come together at 6:30am at Henley Square for a Remembrance ceremony and light breakfast.