The family and friends of a student from Ross-on-Wye, James Jorge De Sousa Stayton, who took his own life at St Paul’s Cathedral, are starting a mission in his name to bring about changes to the way mental health is understood.

JJ, as he was known, was just 19 when he died. He had been struggling with his mental health, but had managed to hide the extent to which he was suffering from his family and friends. His sister, Sapphire, said he was an intelligent, funny and passionate young man, with strong interests in history and drama.

Together with his parents, his younger brother and many other family members and friends who cared for him, Sapphire has set up a Go Fund Me group to raise funds to donate to charities as the first step in their mission to create change around the stigma of mental health, improve how it is managed and understood. She said: “We want to help ensure that help is available to young people when they need it most.

“We aim to push for a change in protocols - specifically in universities -  to prevent young adults slipping under the radar. Currently, there is no convention, that we are aware of, where someone is alerted to a significant change in circumstance - when students stop attending class, for example. We learned, following his death, that JJ had not been going to university for at least two months, isolating himself from everyone. Despite communications with the university, they were unable to inform us of these changes in his attendance. Had we known, (or another trusted individual, chosen by the student) it is possible something could have been done to help him.” 

Currently, any donations they receive will be used to support mental health charities such as Rowing Together for Healthy Minds.