Words by Smiley Team
Following the loss of his son, Jordan, Steve Phillip felt he had two options going forward: either he could give in to debilitating despair, or he could act to prevent other young people from taking their own life as his son had done. Fortunately, Steve opted for the latter, creating a resource platform offering practical solutions to tackle mental health issues.
The community interest company that emerged from his decision, The Jordan Legacy, offers advice to help individuals through their communities, workplaces, technology and the built environment. They organise panel discussions in which experts share inspiration and advice to spread awareness of the warning signs of mental health problems how we can improve people’s mental wellbeing across society.
Steve, who is head of mission at employee wellbeing organisation Champion Health, built the company around what he learned from his son’s depression. He explained: “It was essential to me that we recognised Jordan's own issues. He was the sort of person who would talk to homeless people but he struggled with his own self-worth. So one of the things that are really important to me was that we found a way to help build confidence in younger people.”
Steve’s idea developed further after he posted an article on social media entitled ‘The day my son took his own life’. It triggered an outpouring of support as well as calls for help from people with similar experiences of depression.
As someone without professional expertise in mental health at that point, Steve initially didn’t feel capable of responding to the requests for help. So he reached out to those around him who did have knowledge around the topic. These included a specialist called Paul Vittles, who has many years of experience working with the global Zero Suicide Community.
Together they worked on a four-level model for dealing to prevent suicide. This includes going into communities, sports clubs, and other local groups to advise on how to develop supportive cultures. On another level they offer similar advice to workplaces and spread awareness of solutions for architects to design infrastructure such as bridges in a way that dissuades people from taking their own lives. Finally, they promote technological solutions, such as apps and augmented intelligence that serve as early warning systems for those at risk of taking their own lives.
Steve put Jordan’s own vision at the heart of the company’s work. Shortly before he took his life, Jordan was asked by his girlfriend what he would do if he won the lottery. “She thought he might want to go on holiday or buy a fancy car,” recounted Steve, “but instead he said he’d invest in a place where people struggling with mental health issues could go to recover.”
Drawing inspiration from his son’s wishes, Steve hopes to build a mental health centre where young people in difficulty can receive help. He envisages a space alongside a lake or in a forest, where people can step away from the stresses of everyday life to rejuvenate themselves.
In the nearer future, the company will host Hope For Life (UK) Conference 2021 this December, which will feature a range of inspirational speakers, including Jonny Benjamin who was dissuaded from taking his own life by a stranger before going on to become an award-winning mental health campaigner.
For more information visit thejordanlegacy.com.
To help offer hope to young people and prevent them from taking their lives, donate here.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts get help here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
