Three days before her 25-year-old son Jack Delamotte died by suicide, Linda Delamotte had a conversation no mother should ever have to have.
Mr Delamotte told her that everything in his brain was telling him to kill himself.
But while he knew he needed help, he did not believe the existing system could give him somewhere safe to go.
That devastating gap would drive Ms Delamotte’s vision for jacks place: a Sunshine Coast charity supporting people in suicidal distress who need more help than a GP or counsellor can provide.
Now, throughout September, which is World Suicide Prevention Month, Ms Delamotte is asking the community to help build that vision, one symbolic brick at a time.
Mr Delamotte grew up on the Coast and attended Mountain Creek School, where he built an extensive network of friends from all corners of the region.
For Ms Delamotte, remembering him means remembering the person he was before the tragedy that changed her family forever.
“Jack was a fun-loving character,” she said.
“He sang out loud to music and could be heard from the other end of the house. He loved fooling around with friends.
“He was committed to exercise, with the gym being one of his favourite places. And clean eating. He loved food.
“I hope he is remembered as that fun-loving, generous guy, not the one who was broken by an unexplained mental illness or in the tragic way he passed.”
Within days of his death, Ms Delamotte said she knew something needed to change.
“To be very honest, I don’t even know how my brain could have had this vision at the time, because I was barely breathing at his passing,” she said.
“I just knew we had to do better.”
That vision became jacks place Foundation.
Ms Delamotte said the idea was shaped by what happened to her son and the difficult choices he faced when he was in suicidal distress.
Just days before Mr Delamotte passed, he said, “Mum, everything in my brain is telling me to kill myself. But I won’t go to Emergency to wait on the plastic chairs and then be discharged anyway”.
Ms Delamotte said his experience exposed what she sees as a critical gap between the public and private mental health systems.
“He was speaking from experience, and this is not uncommon where people presenting to emergency don’t meet the criteria for admission,” she said.
“And he couldn’t go to a private mental health unit because he couldn’t get a private psychiatrist, and even if he did, he would have to keep his suicidal thoughts to himself.
“When he did have a private psychiatrist and they were planning an admission to the private mental health unit, he was told to keep his suicidal thoughts to himself because he won’t be admitted if they know that.”
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For Ms Delamotte, the most confronting part was that the people around her son knew he was at risk, yet there was nowhere she could take him where he could be safe.
That experience has shaped what she calls the ‘missing middle’.
“The missing middle refers to the gap in care between the public and private mental health system. We are not duplicating what either are doing, but filling the gap,” she said.
jacks place is being developed as a community-based residential and non-residential model of care, designed to provide intensive therapeutic support, connection and hope before someone reaches a point of crisis.
The model will also recognise the needs of the family and friends supporting someone experiencing suicidal distress.
The planned facility will be surrounded by nature, with birds, trees and landscaped spaces intended to create a calmer environment.
The model will combine health and medical professionals with peer support workers who have their own experience of how difficult life can become.
“There is no purpose-built, suicide-prevention facility in Australia,” she said.
“I want everyone, including friends and family, to feel the calm, safe and hopeful vibes the minute they enter the surrounds.”
Developing a model for care of this kind is not something Ms Delamotte believes can happen in isolation.
jacks place Foundation is working with specialists and healthcare teams connected with Sunshine Coast University Hospital as it develops its care model and future facility.
That community support is now being channelled into a new fundraising campaign for World Suicide Prevention Month, as well as Mental Health Month in October.
Called ‘Building Hope, One Brick at a Time’, the campaign invites people to purchase a symbolic brick for $10 to help support the future of jacks place.
“The message is simple: jacks place will be built by all of us,” Ms Delamotte said.
“It gets made out of thousands of small acts – a donation, a business putting its hand up, a trade offering time, someone sharing our story with the people they know.
“And every brick stands for someone: a son, a daughter, a partner, a mate, a workmate. Somebody who needed a safe place to go and couldn’t find one.”
Ms Delamotte wants people to remember that helping someone does not require perfect words or a perfect solution.
“It’s easy to feel like the problem’s too big to do anything about. It isn’t,” she said.
“If someone you care about is struggling, you don’t need the right words. You just need to be there and ask, honestly, how they’re going. And then stay in the conversation.
“And if you’re the one doing it tough right now, please hold on and reach out.
“There are a lot of people working hard to make this system better, and you deserve to still be here when it is.”
A Sunshine Coast Health spokesperson said they acknowledge the lasting impact suicide can have on families, loved ones and the broader community.
“Sunshine Coast Health has 68 adult mental health beds to provide acute inpatient care. If a patient meets the criteria for admission, they are seen and admitted urgently,” the spokesperson said.
“Whilst Sunshine Coast Health helps families and carers to support their loved ones, there are community supports available to assist families and carers, helping them understand mental illness, navigate care options and stay involved in care where appropriate.”
If you’re in an emergency or someone is in immediate danger, call 000.
If you or anyone you know needs support, call or visit:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14, Lifeline.org.au
- Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800
- Beyond Blue 1300 224 635, beyondblue.org.au
