Three days before her 25-year-old son Jack Delamotte died by suicide, Linda Delamotte had a conversation no mother should ever have to have.
Jack told her that everything in his brain was telling him to kill himself.
But while he knew he needed help, he did not believe the existing system could give him somewhere safe to go.
That devastating gap would drive Linda’s vision for jacks place: a Sunshine Coast charity supporting people in suicidal distress who need more help than a GP or counsellor can provide.
Now, on World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10, Linda is asking the community to help build that vision, one symbolic brick at a time.
Jack grew up on the Coast and attended Mountain Creek School, where he built an extensive network of friends from all corners of the region.
For Linda, remembering him means remembering the person he was before the tragedy that changed her family forever.
“Jack was a fun-loving character,” she says.
“He sang out loud to music and could be heard from the other end of the house.
“He loved fooling around with friends.
“He was committed to exercise, with the gym being one of his favourite places. And clean eating. He loved food.
“I hope he is remembered as that fun-loving, generous guy, not the one who was broken by an unexplained mental illness or in the tragic way he passed.”
Within days of Jack’s death, Linda says she knew something needed to change.
“To be very honest, I don’t even know how my brain could have had this vision at the time, because I was barely breathing at his passing,” she says.
“I just knew we had to do better.”
That vision became jacks place Foundation. Linda says the idea was shaped by what happened to Jack and the difficult choices he faced when he was in suicidal distress.
Just days before Jack passed, he said, “Mum, everything in my brain is telling me to kill myself. But I won’t go to SCUH (Sunshine Coast University Hospital)Emergency to wait on the plastic chairs and then be discharged anyway.”
Linda says Jack’s experience exposed what she sees as a critical gap between the public and private mental health systems.
“He was speaking from experience, and this is not uncommon where people presenting to emergency don’t meet the criteria for admission,” she says.
“And he couldn’t go to a private mental health unit because he couldn’t get a private psychiatrist, and even if he did, he would have to keep his suicidal thoughts to himself.
“When he did have a private psychiatrist and they were planning an admission to the private mental health unit, he was told to keep his suicidal thoughts to himself because he won’t be admitted if they know that.”
For Linda, the most confronting part was that the people around Jack knew he was at risk, yet there was nowhere she could take him where he could be safe.
That experience has shaped what Linda calls the ‘missing middle’.
“The missing middle refers to the gap in care between the public and private mental health system. We are not duplicating what either are doing, but filling the gap,” she says.
jacks place is being developed as a community-based residential and non-residential model of care, designed to provide intensive therapeutic support, connection and hope before someone reaches a point of crisis.
The model will also recognise the needs of the family and friends supporting someone experiencing suicidal distress.
“We will be delivering wraparound care specific to each individual,” she says.
“What that means is holding them in a safe and therapeutic (not a hospital feel) space and connecting each guest to relevant people and services, according to their circumstances and needs.”
The planned facility will be surrounded by nature, with birds, trees and landscaped spaces intended to create a calmer environment.
“Our people will be guests, not patients, and they will choose to come to jacks place,” she says.
“All feelings are welcome and encouraged to be shared. We will provide a place of hope and safety.”
The model will combine health and medical professionals with peer support workers who have their own experience of how difficult life can become.
Linda says the approach will also extend beyond the person experiencing suicidal distress.
“There is no purpose-built, suicide-prevention facility in Australia,” she says.
“I want everyone, including friends and family, to feel the calm, safe and hopeful vibes the minute they enter the surrounds.”
For families who have spent nights worrying about a loved one, the planned facility is intended to provide somewhere to pause as well as somewhere to receive support.
Developing a model for care of this kind is not something Linda believes can happen in isolation.
jacks place Foundation is working with specialists and healthcare teams connected with SCUH as it develops its care model and future facility.
“Suicide prevention is complex, and so that requires an extensive collaboration not only to develop the care, but to deliver it into the future,” she says.
“We want engagement from many areas of our community, and to date we have had very encouraging responses.”
That community support is now being channelled into a new fundraising campaign for World Suicide Prevention Day, as well as Mental Health Month in October.
Called ‘Building Hope, One Brick at a Time’, the campaign invites people to purchase a symbolic brick for $10 to help support the future of jacks place.
“The message is simple: jacks place will be built by all of us,” Linda says.
“It gets made out of thousands of small acts – a donation, a business putting its hand up, a trade offering time, someone sharing our story with the people they know.
“And every brick stands for someone:a son, a daughter, a partner, a mate, a workmate. Somebody who needed a safe place to go and couldn’t find one.”
The response from the Coast community so far has reinforced Linda’s belief that the need extends far beyond her own family.
“The response has been both compassionate and passionate for supporting us to achieve our vision,” she says.
“Sadly, so many people in our community have been impacted by suicide in some way, and many have been impacted by the missing middle.
“So, they understand all too well why we are doing what we’re doing and why it is so critical.”
For Linda, the work remains deeply personal. But the vision is now much bigger than one family’s loss.
On World Suicide Prevention Day, she wants people to remember that helping someone does not require perfect words or a perfect solution.
“On a day like today, it’s easy to feel like the problem’s too big to do anything about. It isn’t,” she says.
“If someone you care about is struggling, you don’t need the right words.
“You just need to be there and ask, honestly, how they’re going.
“And then stay in the conversation.
“And if you’re the one doing it tough right now, please hold on and reach out.
“There are a lot of people working hard to make this system better, and you deserve to still be here when it is.”
At the heart of jacks place is the hope that no family will again have to face the question Linda and Jack faced, with nowhere to turn.
“That’s really what jacks place is about: hope, held safely, until someone can carry it themselves again,” Linda says.
A Sunshine Coast Health spokesperson says they acknowledge the lasting impact suicide can have on families, loved ones and the broader community.
“Sunshine Coast Health has 68 adult mental health beds to provide acute inpatient care.
“If a patient meets the criteria for admission, they are seen and admitted urgently,” the spokesperson says.
“Whilst Sunshine Coast Health helps families and carers to support their loved ones, there are community supports available to assist families and carers, helping them understand mental illness, navigate care options and stay involved in care where appropriate.”
To purchase a symbolic brick, visit jacksplacefoundation.org.au
If you’re in an emergency or someone is in immediate danger, call 000.
If you or anyone you know needs support, call or visit:
• Lifeline on 13 11 14, Lifeline.org.au
• Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800
• Beyond Blue 1300 224 635, beyondblue.org.au
