Leeds-based suicide prevention campaigner to launch new community interest firm

Having battled mental health issues and experienced the loss of her father to suicide when she was just four years old, Ms MacDonald said she was now channelling her pain into something positive to “bring more hope to people at a time when it is needed most”.

She said: “I grew up sad, angry, and confused by my dad’s suicide, nobody dared speak about it and so it’s taken years to be able to understand it and to get to a place to do something positive to help those who, like my dad, may be struggling.

“Timing is everything. This isn’t something I could have handled emotionally a few years ago but having experienced severe depression between 2021 and 2023, my recovery highlighted a need in me to do something truly purposeful.”

Ms MacDonald has previously worked on PR campaigns including Champion Health’s workplace wellbeing and suicide prevention reports, supporting charities such as the National Centre for Suicide Prevention, Education and Training, and local homelessness charity Simon on the Streets

She said that being part of such campaigns made her realise “how much it meant to be part of something meaningful.”

Ms MacDonald’s experience in these campaigns also led her to become a local suicide prevention campaigner for Samaritans and trustee of national suicide prevention charity, Baton of Hope.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , 5,579 suicides were registered in England in 2023, equating to just over 11 suicide deaths per 100,000 people.

The ONS said this rate was “significantly higher” than the rates seen in the previous three years.

Ms MacDonald said: “The statistics are shocking and it’s about time we finally break the stigma to put an end to people’s silent suffering.

“I plan to use my PR background to run awareness-raising and stigma-reducing campaigns, talks, events and activities in workplaces, businesses, and schools, and of course by getting as many people as possible trained.

“HelloHope will deliver simple yet vital life saving training to adults as preventative methods so we can all better at understanding the signs to look for and how to get someone who is struggling to a place of safety – whilst keeping the intervener safe.”

Having spent time observing the sector, retraining, researching and planning, Ms MacDonald appointed Leeds-based branding agency, ALLGOOD to create what she described as a “positive, vibrant brand which aims to make it easier to have conversations around suicide and poor mental health”.

Over the past nine years, Ms MacDonald has won multiple awards for her PR agency, which set out to “do business better”.

These include Yorkshire’s Young Leader of the Year in the Business Desk Yorkshire’s Leadership Awards and Start-Up Businesswoman of the Year in Forward Ladies regional awards.

HelloHope will launch at a special event alongside celebrating MacComms’ ninth birthday on Thursday, 23 May at Nexus, Leeds from 5.30pm. Tickets are available for the event via Eventbrite.