This Book Could Save Your Life by Ben West

When Ben West lost his brother to suicide at the tender age of 17, he decided to make it his life's mission to raise awareness around the mental health stigma in the UK. 

The loss of his brother Sam, who went to his same school and was aged only 15 when he died, drove Ben to concentrate his pain into campaigning for better mental health awareness in schools and the education system as a whole. This culminated in a petition to make mental health first aid a compulsory part of teacher training, which was signed by over 300,000 people and discussed in the House of Commons, where Ben was invited to work alongside ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accelerate its development. 

Five years after his brother's death, Ben's book "This Book Could Save Your Life - Breaking the Silence Around the Mental Health Emergency" was published by Harper Collins, charting Ben's campaigning journey to date and offering every nugget of wisdom he's discovered along the way -  from understanding suicide and dealing with grief, to advice on how to start honest conversations about mental health and support those in your life who may be struggling. 

Ben's straightforward self-care tips, as well as his searing honesty about his own mental health struggles and ability to laugh at himself in the face of adversity are just some of the things that stood out to us most when we read the book for our first ever Suicide&Co Book Club. We are thrilled that Ben is one of our Suicide&Co Ambassadors, as well as the co-host of our podcast Conversations in Company. You can also find Ben talking about his book in an Instagram Live session with our co-founder Amelia here.