At the end of July 2025, our team in Kent & Medway attended the ‘Baton of Hope – Meet the Baton Bearers’ event at Chilston Park Hotel in Kent. The event brought together professionals, and individuals bereaved or affected by suicide, to meet the baton bearers in the upcoming Kent and Medway leg of the Baton of Hope’s journey across the UK.
The Baton of Hope tour continues in September, visiting 20 locations over 6 weeks. The Baton will arrive in Kent and Medway on the 22nd September, where our team will be providing help and support to those bereaved by suicide along the route.
There are currently around 6000 deaths by suicide a year in the UK, and the work of the Baton of Hope movement highlights the importance of starting conversations to strive towards a zero-suicide society.
The Baton of Hope movement also provides education, resources and training on suicide awareness & prevention and mental wellbeing and actively lobbies for changes to national guidelines, regulations, services, curriculums, and law.
The tour will begin in Blackpool on the 1st September, and will finish in London on the 10th October, to coincide with World Mental Health Day. You can follow the progress and support the campaign here.