I was once told that it takes the bravest person to speak up for the quietest.

My name is Dylan Rory McCloskey, and I’ve thought about those words a lot over the last few days. When I signed up to run the Manchester Marathon for PAPYRUS, I never imagined I’d end up writing something like this. I just wanted to take one of the hardest parts of my own life and turn it into something positive, raise some money, run a marathon and hopefully help somebody along the way.

The reason I chose PAPYRUS was always personal. When I was younger, I struggled badly with my mental health. I felt lost, alone and genuinely didn’t know how to ask for help. At my lowest point, I attempted to take my own life. For years I kept that part of my life to myself, but when I started this challenge I decided that if I was going to do it properly, I needed to be honest about why. So I started talking about it.

What I didn’t expect was that other people would start talking to me too. People have trusted me with their own stories, some about their own struggles, some about people they’ve lost, and some about what it’s like to be absolutely terrified for somebody they love. A lot of those conversations have been incredibly personal and they will always stay private, but they’ve made me realise that this was never really just about me, my story or a marathon.

Then PAPYRUS closed, and I’ve spent the last few days trying to work out what I do next. I’ve taken advice, listened to people and thought about the marathon, the money already raised and whether I simply choose another charity and carry on. But there is one thing I cannot get out of my head: tonight there will be young people feeling exactly how I once felt. There will be someone frightened by their own thoughts, not knowing who to tell, and there will be parents, friends and families desperately trying to help somebody they love. One of the specialist services that was there for those moments is now gone.

I know I cannot change the fact that PAPYRUS has entered administration. I understand that there are financial, legal and organisational reasons behind what has happened. But I refuse to believe that the support itself should be allowed to disappear with the charity. I honestly do not care what the service is called, who runs it or whose logo is above the door. Somewhere, by someone, that support needs to be there.

Because when somebody reaches the lowest point of their life, they don’t care about administration or funding structures. They don’t care which organisation is responsible or who is supposed to pick up the pieces. They just need somebody to answer.

This Government talks a lot about justice. To me, justice also means making sure that a young person in crisis isn’t left without somewhere to turn because the organisation providing that support has collapsed. We constantly tell young people that asking for help is brave. We tell them to speak up. We tell them that they are not alone. But if we are going to keep saying those things, then we have a responsibility to make sure somebody is actually there when they finally find the courage to reach out.

I know what it feels like to be that young person. The difference is that today I’m still here. I’m running, I’m making plans, I’m looking forward to things and I have a future that, at one point, I genuinely couldn’t see. Every young person struggling today deserves the opportunity to find out what their own future looks like too.

I’m not an expert. I don’t represent PAPYRUS, its former staff or everybody who used its services, and I’m not pretending that I have all the answers. I’m just somebody who has been in a very dark place before and who is lucky enough to still be here. There was a time when I needed other people to speak up for people like me. Today, I’m in a position where I can use my own voice for somebody else.

That is why I’ve started this petition. I don’t know whether it will get 100 signatures, 1,000 or 100,000. I don’t know exactly where it will lead. But I know I would rather try than sit back and wonder whether I could have done something.

So please, speak up with me.

Young people still need somewhere to turn. They still need somebody to answer. ❤️