CALLUM Chapman, 25, was hiding a secret when he tried to take his own life three times at the age of 15. Only when the young lad, from Oxford , opened up did he realise it wasn't worth loving his life over. On World Suicide Prevention Day, Callum - who is a fundraiser for leading men's health charity Movember - is bravely telling his story to help others.
Some 115 people die to suicide every week. Three of four suicides in the UK are men. Movember is at the forefront of trying to change that statistic, including by teaching people how to have conversations about mental health with each other.
It's online tool, Movember Conversations , helps people practise this. Speaking of his most difficult times, Callum says he wished people had more frequently challenged him directly and asked how he was. Read more on mental health The medical student at Swansea University tells Sun Health: “I wish I’d had someone asking, and I mean really asking, how I was.
“Someone actually saying, ‘How did you sleep, have you eaten today?’ “That constant check in might have encouraged me to open up about how I was really feeling. “Having empathy and being given a space to talk is what a lot of suicidal people need, don’t expect them to talk on your terms when it suits you but persevere and don’t give up, we want help, we really do.” Most read in Health Callum realised he was gay at the age of 14 but struggled to admit it to himself.
He said: "Despite knowing from a young age, I grew.