LAST week saw the launch of a mental health awareness programme in the name of Ponteland mum Sally Allan.

Sally Allan took her own life after leaving her home in Ponteland on Boxing Day, 2015.

Her family believe she had been battling mental health issues for some time but had been masking them from everyone, including her husband, Gordon.

After it was revealed that the North-East has the highest suicide rate in England, the Sally Allan Mental Health Awareness Programme was developed by Tyneside and Northumberland Mind in conjunction with Sally’s family, to help spread awareness of mental health issues.

It delivered its first awareness presentation to the staff of Silverbean digital marketing agency at their office in Newcastle last week. The presentations are now to be delivered to organisations across the North-East.

Gordon said: “Sally appeared to be an incredibly strong person who always put other people first.

“But I believe this strength worked against her, as she was able to keep her anxiety to herself, hiding it from family, friends and colleagues.

“With hindsight I think if you showed me a snapshot of Sally 10 years ago and one more recently, I might have noticed differences in her behaviour, but over time it is easy to miss the small changes leading to a greater change.

“In the run up to Christmas Sally did have a number of legitimate, normal things she was worried about. These, combined with what we now think was low self-esteem, the pressure of wanting to make Christmas special and more time to ponder after her recent retirement were just too much for her to bear on her own.

“If only Sally had opened up and talked about how she really felt, the family would have helped her turn things around.”

Now Gordon and his family want to raise awareness of the issues around mental health so people might be more able to spot the warning signs, no matter how subtle, in themselves or their loved ones.

Through their fund-raising efforts, the Allan family have raised around £12,500 for Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, and a further £10,000 for the national Mind charity.

Emily Pearson, training consultant for Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, said: “What happened to Sally Allan and to many others who felt they couldn’t tell anyone about what they were experiencing is a tragedy.

“I hope that with the £12,500 the Allan family has raised for Tyneside and Northumberland Mind we will be able to reach as many people as possible via these presentations.”