Wigan mum hopes to inform suicide prevention policy after brother’s death

Nina Smith, from Whelley, was preparing to begin her studies at Edge Hill University in 2021 when she received a knock at the door with the tragic news that her only brother Will had taken his life at the age of 30, leaving his wife Vicki and daughter Paige, five.

Determined not to postpone her studies, Nina, 34 – who had been a primary school teacher for 10 years and has two young daughters – decided to continue despite her grief.

Now Nina is graduating with a distinction in MSc sport, physical activity and mental health and has gone on to study for a PhD at Edge Hill, working in partnership with Sport England, British Cycling and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

She said: “To lose my little brother to suicide, just two weeks before I was due to start a master’s in mental health, was devastating.

"Rather than deferring, I decided to throw myself into my work.

“My first day at Edge Hill was only four days after the funeral and we spent the day completing suicide prevention training.

"If only I had done this training a few weeks earlier, maybe I could have helped my brother.

“It took me a while to be able to interact with people.

"When I first started, during lectures tears would stream down my face, as the content we were learning about was so pertinent and personal to me.

“In some ways, it helped me to understand what had happened to my brother and I used my grief to inform my studies.

"The lecturers were incredibly supportive and I cannot thank them enough.

“I would like people to realise that people who die by suicide are not just numbers or statistics. They have a face and a name and a story. They are people with families who love them and miss them every day.

During her studies, Nina used existing research and theory to develop and deliver targeted interventions for at-risk adolescents who engaged in self-harm or had attempted suicide.

These carefully designed workshops were delivered to high school pupils across the North West.

Nina said: “Schools are trying extremely hard to support pupils with their mental health, but with limited training, time constraints and so many other pressures, they need support and guidance.

“It’s been such an awful time, but it gives me comfort to think that perhaps, in the future, my work can help prevent another big sister from getting that knock at the door.

“I hope if my brother can see me, that he'll be proud.”

As well as working towards a PhD, Nina has won a prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship.

As part of this, she will travel to Australia and the USA to explore school-based suicide prevention strategies.

Nina hopes her learning from the fellowship, which is supported by Samaritans, will help to inform policy and practice in the UK, helping schools to be better equipped in providing vital support.

If you need to talk to someone, call Samaritans at any time on 116 123.