‘I still suffer nightmares from suicide’, says MSP

Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole -Hamilton has urged more support for people who witness incidents such as suicides as he revealed he still suffers nightmares after seeing a person take their own life.

The party’ s health spokesman said while he sought counselling following the incident, it had been “inadequate”. He was speaking as he met Janice Malone, who was also affected badly after witnessing the same suicide.

Mr Cole-Hamilton recounted the incident on Twitter, saying: “Janice and I were walking in opposite directions, but our paths intersected at the base of a tall building.

“We both remember a lot of shouting from above and stopped to look to see what was up. At that point a man took his life from the top of the building and died on the pavement beside us.

“It didn’t seem real at the time, the scene was traumatic, like something from a war zone. I remember reaching for my phone in a daze and dialling 999. Janice and I then had to try to stop people walking down the pavement until the emergency services arrived.” He said both he and Ms Malone suffered an “initial shock response, with mood swings[ and] loss of sleep” in the aftermath. The MSP said: “In the longer term, things settled down for me. I still find workmen shouting in scaffolding overhead an anxiety trigger and I still have nightmares, but the road back was much harder for Janice.”