Family speak out about social media pressure after young son's suicide

Callum Ward, of Church Stretton, took his own life on August 2 last year.

His parents and sister now want to raise awareness of mental health and the pressures of social media.

To celebrate what would have been Callum’s 24th birthday, the Ward family are this weekend holding an awareness weekend in their home town.

Yesterday it included a performance of a play called Game Over – a black comedy about suicide – at Dudgeley Farm, All Stretton.

Callum’s mother Jenny was on a course in London when she met the producer of the play and had the idea of bringing it to Shropshire.

The production uses comedy and music to explore how suicidal feelings might start to take hold during a period of long-term depression.

She said: “I asked the producer if he would be interested in bringing it to rural areas and amazingly he said yes.

"I think it’s important to show these kinds of things outside London too because it affects people from all communities across the country.

“There are numerous places to seek help in London but not so many in rural areas.”

Out of the blue

Callum’s death was a shattering blow to his family. He was bright and successful and appeared to have everything to live for

His parents believed that he had done all the hard work after achieving a first class honours degree in business marketing and landing his a dream job.

They believe his depression was contributed to by the pressure of being on social media, an issue that by its nature is hidden away from loved ones.

His father Ian said: “We’re a close family and we all thought Callum had set himself up nicely to begin the next stage of his life.

“He was just about to start his new job in September and he’d bought his dream car only three months before.

“Callum’s suicide really came out of the blue for us.

“We knew he was a little down but I didn’t suspect for a moment that anything was seriously wrong until about a week before his passing.”

Mr Ward had gone out for a meal with Callum and his daughter Freya, and noticed his son was not his usual self.

He added: “He was very sombre and quiet. I asked him what was wrong and at first he said nothing.

“But Freya and I managed to establish that it was to do with a picture that had been posted on Instagram and had only received 30 likes and that it should have had more.

"He’d jokingly even asked his friends to like it – saying help me out, lads.

“I said to him ‘Come on chap, this isn’t like you. You know that’s not real life’, to which Callum replied, ‘No dad, that’s just it, this is real life’.

“We all agreed that we needed to keep an eye on him after that, but sadly on August 2 this world just became too much for him.”

Pressure

Callum’s family say they want to use his story to warn others of the dangers of social media.

Mr Ward added: “From our point of view, the pressure millennials are under with social media these days is huge.

“They see other people with hundreds of likes, living what appears to be dream lives and feel they should be doing the same.”

The family is also hoping in future to spread the message about the link between social media and mental health throughout Shropshire schools and colleges.

Mr and Mrs Ward say the dangers of social media continue for children once they progress into young adulthood, either at university or in the workplace.

Mrs Ward added: “University can often be a challenging journey and social media often adds to that pressure. It can be so dangerous.”

Today, Callum’s family and friends are planning to hold a private picnic to celebrate his life which has been affectionately called CalFest by his sister.

The money raised will be in aid of Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide.

Rosemary Vaux, for Papyrus said: “This is amazing support from Jenny, Ian and Freya Ward, as well as everyone supporting their charity evening performance.”