A Shouldham dad who lost his 19-year-old daughter to suicide has vowed to campaign for the return of a “life-saving” helpline after the charity behind it entered administration.
Tim Owen, from the village near King’s Lynn, lost his daughter Emily in 2020. Her death led him to join forces with two other fathers who had suffered the same devastating loss, creating 3 Dads Walking.
Alongside Andy Airey from Cumbria and Mike Palmer from Greater Manchester, Tim has spent the past five years taking on huge walking challenges across the UK in memory of their daughters – Emily, Sophie and Beth – while raising awareness of suicide prevention.
The group has raised more than £1.5m for Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide, a charity which had been working to prevent young suicide for around 30 years.
A key part of Papyrus’s work was HOPELINE247, a dedicated suicide prevention service for young people and those supporting them. The service provided support around the clock and was used by young people, families and professionals, including NHS services which signposted people towards its specialist support.
The Three Dads Walking helped raise funds which allowed Papyrus to extend the helpline’s opening hours to become a 24-hour service.
But Papyrus announced this week that it had entered administration and would close with immediate effect.
For Tim and his fellow dads, who have spent years campaigning for better support for young people at risk of suicide, the loss of the service has been particularly painful.
“It’s got to be our priority to work out how it comes back, in some guise, to give our young people hope,” said Tim.
“We know that that phone line saved lives. It isn’t there anymore – that’s heartbreaking.”
Since 2021, the Three Dads Walking have completed four epic walks around the UK, raising money for Papyrus and helping fund the expansion of HOPELINE247.
The group said they had only been discussing their next fundraising challenge shortly before learning of Papyrus’s closure.
“We were only last week talking about what our next challenge was before we had the terrible news on Monday night,” Tim told BBC Look East.
The dads are now turning their attention towards what happens next, saying they want to see dedicated suicide prevention support restored for young people.
“In the near future, we’re definitely channelling our energy into asking ‘if we’ve lost HopeLine 24/7 and there’s no support, no dedicated suicide prevention support for our young people across the UK, who’s going to provide that’?”
Tim said the service could potentially be taken over by another organisation.
“That service could be taken and picked up by another service – it wouldn’t take that much,” he said.
The Three Dads Walking said HOPELINE247 had become a vital part of the support network for young people and families, with NHS services also relying on Papyrus’s expertise.
The three fathers questioned how a service specialising in preventing young suicide, and one which was relied upon by NHS services, could be left financially dependent on charitable fundraising.
They said the loss of Papyrus was about more than the closure of an individual charity.
“This is not simply the closure of another charity, it is the loss of a service that has been helping to keep young people alive,” they said.
They described the closure as a “wake-up call” for the government, arguing that suicide prevention should be recognised as a public health responsibility rather than treated as an optional extra.
Papyrus chairman Harry Biggs-Davison, who lost his 25-year-old son Patrick to suicide in 2015, said the decision to close the charity had been “almost unbearable” for its trustees.
He said Papyrus had been struggling financially for almost two years and that trustees had ultimately accepted they had “no alternative”.
Biggs-Davison said he took pride in knowing that the charity had saved lives and offered hope to countless young people during its three decades of work.
The administrators said Papyrus would close immediately but that they would seek to transfer its services to willing parties.
The Department of Health and Social Care said its suicide prevention strategy included a range of measures aimed at reducing the number of young lives lost to suicide.
A spokesperson said the government recognised Papyrus’s “significant contribution” but would continue working to ensure young people needing urgent mental health support knew where they could turn.
In the meantime, Papyrus’s administrators have advised anyone struggling, or anyone worried about a young person, to contact the Samaritans, Shout, NHS 111 or 999 in an emergency.
For Tim Owen and the Three Dads Walking, however, the campaign is far from over.
After years of walking thousands of miles to raise money and awareness in memory of their daughters, the focus is now on making sure the dedicated support they helped build for young people is not simply lost.
Tim said the closure of Papyrus had also highlighted the wider fragility of the charity sector – and he intends to keep pushing for HOPELINE247, or an equivalent service, to return.
