Scots music star to run in memory of brother
Frightened Rabbit drummer to raise awareness of mental health
The brother and bandmate of Scott Hutchison, the late lead singer with Frightened Rabbit, is to take part in this weekend’s Great Scottish Run to raise awareness of mental health issues.
Grant Hutchison said he hoped to highlight the help available to people suffering with depression and anxiety.
Scott, who spoke openly about his own mental health challenges and wrote about it in his music, sent a tweet in May which read: “I’m away now. Thanks.” His body was later found near the Forth Road Bridge. He was 36.
Drummer Grant said his brother’s death meant that the importance of helping other people to find support for their mental health problems was “huge.”
He also said that more needs to be done to provide education and support for the relatives and friends of people who are struggling with mental health issues.
He told BBC Radio Scogtland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I’m someone who has not suffered, certain- ly in the same way as Scott did, so was probably quite ignorant of how serious it can be.
“If you don’t have that empathy, not having gone through it yourself, it’s really difficult to know what to do because it’s such a delicate situation.” He added: “My usual approach with things is to go in quite forcefully and quite strongly, and that’s not necessarily the best approach in this situation.
“So not being able to fall back on my usual instincts made it really difficult to know how to be there and support him.”
Grant said that having the backing of his family and friends has helped him to cope since the death of Scott.
He explained: “It’s obviously been extremely difficult but I’ve got a great support network who have been incredibly strong and kept me strong and been there for me when I needed it.
“It sounds like a cliche but it genuinely is just getting through to the end of each day. You can’t really look beyond that.
“There should be more information out there for people like myself in that situation. If I felt there was somewhere I could go to educate myself and learn more about Scott’s depression and anxiety, then that maybe would have equipped me to help more.”
Grant will be among tens thousands of 10k and halfmarathon runners descending on Glasgow this Sunday for the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run.
He joked that his unorthodox “training” regime had left him “fighting fit,” explaining: “I had my stag do and a friend’s wedding these past two weekends. But I’m feeling good and it will be great fun.”
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