Please read and watch the attached video.

My mum taught both Ben West and Sam. She was their Art teacher. I asked her about them both and when speaking of Sam she said that he “was just adorable. So very kind, gentle, sweet, really good at Art ( and music). I know I only knew him till he was 13 but I can’t think of a negative thing about him.“

Ben has been a mental health campaigner since his younger brother, Sam, took his own life at just 15 and has recently built a wonderful website called Reasons To Stay. It’s a website that delivers a digital letter at random to anyone who lands on the site giving them words of hope and of love at a time where they may need it more than ever.

As a community of writers - mothers, fathers, friends, and well, just humans - I thought many on here might be well placed to write something to a stranger in need.

If this is something you’d like to do, you can do so by visiting the website at

I am in awe of Ben’s ability to turn something so awful into good. And as a mother myself I can only imagine how proud his is of him.