Mike McCarthy, who lives in Sheffield, was a reporter for BBC Look North and then Sky News.

In 2021, his son Ross died by suicide aged just 31. Ross had sought help from the NHS for his depression, which he had lived with for over a decade. He was put on a six month waiting list for therapy but died two weeks into the wait, leaving behind a young son and a fiance.

In the farewell letter he left for his family, he implored them to “Please fight for mental health. The support is just not there.”

Ross McCarthy (right) with his family. His father Mike McCarthy (second right), is carrying out his late son's wishes by campaigning for better mental health support.

Mr McCarthy has now joined with Harrogate father Steve Phillip, whose son Jordan also took his own life, to launch the Baton of Hope – which will visit 12 cities in the UK in June and July to raise awareness of suicide.

The Baton of Hope has been designed, crafted and donated by Thomas Lyte who hold a Royal Warrant as Goldsmiths and Silversmiths to the lateQueen Elizabeth II.

The company are best known as the designers, makers and restorers of many of the world’s most famous sporting trophies, including the Emirates FA Cup, The Ryder Cup and the Guinness Six

Nations Trophy.

The company offered to make the baton after learning about the charity’s mission to break the silence and stigma around suicide.

The Baton of Hope will be carried around 12 cities across the UK by bereaved families and friends to highlight the magnitude of the suicide crisis.

Starting in Glasgow on Sunday June 25, the Baton will eventually reach Downing Street on Thursday July 6. The charity has invited families of those who have lost loved ones to suicide to carry the baton on its tour.

Mr McCarthy said: “I hope that people from all backgrounds and walks of life will recognise that the vast majority of suicides are preventable with the right care.

"We have a huge mountain to climb in breaking the stigma, educating our children about the importance of mental wellbeing and re-calibrating our approach to the societal catastrophe created by suicide.”

“Like hundreds of thousands of others, my son died partly as the result of an overstretched, underfunded, mental health provision which has long been treated as the Cinderella service of the NHS and swept under the carpet.

"The suicide statistics in the UK have stagnated for more than 15 years. It’s time for change.”

The campaign is being supported by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary, who has himself lived with depression for many years.

Mr Campbell said: “I have been a supporter of the Baton of Hope project from the moment Mike McCarthy told me his idea because I can see the benefit it can bring to the debate around suicide and mental health more generally.

"We have made so much progress when it comes to awareness but there remains far too much stigma and taboo around the issue of suicide, and a failure to understand across politics and across society that most lives lost to suicide can be saved.”

Former BBC Look North presenter Mike McCarthy launches suicide awareness campaign after son took his own life