THE family of a Downend teenager who took his own life want to save others by helping men talk about their mental health.
Cameron Williams died last year, aged 19, after being left devastated by the death of a friend in a road crash.
His family are setting up a foundation in his name to end the stigma around discussing men’s mental health, to fund charities providing practical support and to direct men to help when they need it.
Cameron’s aunt, Amelia Care, said: “We want people to know how his passing has deeply affected his family, friends and the community.
“Mental health, especially in men, is not talked about enough and there is so much stigma around it that we are going to do as much as we can to try and end this.
“Men don’t talk about their feelings, and this needs to stop.”
Cameron, described by his family as a “much-loved son, grandson, nephew, cousin, partner and friend”, took his life in September last year.
Amelia said he had been devastated by the loss of his friend and work colleague Tyler Carley in a road accident on the Avon Ring Road in December 2023.
Cameron and Tyler were both passengers in a scaffolding lorry which overturned near Mangotsfield. Tyler died in the crash, while Cameron was not physically injured.
Amelia said: “He came out without a scratch but it absolutely devastated him.
“Looking back now you can tell that he was struggling, but he kept it to himself – he was very good at hiding it.
“He had survivor’s guilt and PTSD, and he always said ‘it should have been me that died’.
“We tried encouraging him to go to the doctors but he didn’t want to relive it – he was so traumatised by what happened.
“For somebody so young as Cameron to take his life is so completely shocking.”
Cameron lived with his mum Melissa Care in Downend, attending Stanbridge Primary School and Downend School as he grew up.
Amelia said: “Cameron had the most infectious smile – always kind, caring, loving, friendly, the list is endless. He was the most perfect person.”
Cameron and Tyler, a former Mangotsfield School pupil, became friends after starting work together, and Amelia said they were planning to go to college together.
After Tyler’s death, Cameron couldn’t face working as a scaffolder again.
He started a new job with a window fitting firm, and was enthusiastic about learning the trade.
But although he appeared to be rebuilding his life, going on holidays and attending a festival with his girlfriend, his mental health deteriorated over the nine months before his death.
Amelia said: “Cameron did not talk, he did not open up about how he was feeling, always brushing it off and saying he was OK. He wanted to be brave but this is what we want to get over – it’s OK not to be OK.
“If you’re not feeling good, talk about your feelings. You’re not less of a man if you’re feeling sad and feeling down.
“There is help out there, people care and love you and your life matters.”
Melissa, Amelia and their mum Karen Parker have set up the Cameron Williams Foundation to keep his memory alive and to help other men find help when they need it.
Amelia said: “Nobody told us what to look out for with Cameron.
“We don’t want another man thinking the only way out is to take your own life – it can get better if you talk to people and it shouldn’t be such a taboo subject.
“Eighty-four men a week in the UK take their own lives, that’s 12 a day. We don’t want another family to go through what we’re going through. The grief and pain is traumatic – it’s with us every day.”
Among the foundation’s aims is to raise money for charities providing support.
For its first fundraising event Amelia and four of Cameron’s friends will run the Bristol Half Marathon on May 11, to raise money for two charities.
SOBS – Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide – has been supporting Melissa and Amelia and the family through their grief.
Talk Club is a male mental health charity that meets in Bristol
Ahead of a formal launch of the foundation, family friend Georgia Gee is running a free one-off men-only dance class at Christ Church Junior School on March 14 from 6.30pm. No experience is needed. Men who want to attend should contact Georgia on 07452 837232.
Amelia and Cameron had discussed running the Bristol Half-Marathon last year before his death.
Now she and Cameron’s friends are in training for the 2025 event in his memory.
Amelia said: “Cameron had a very tight friendship group, which he had from a young age.
“It hit his friends very hard, and we’ve become very close.”
As well as supporting other charities, the family hopes the foundation can also serve as point of contact for men who are struggling with mental health to find support.
Amelia said: “There are charities and people out there that will help, it’s just finding them.
“If we can just help one person, we’re doing something – we want to save lives.”
More information about the Cameron Williams Foundation is available on its Facebook page at tinyurl.com/4j8b7w7h
Donations towards the charities the foundation is supporting at the Bristol Half-Marathon can be made at the online fundraising page gofund.me/00f4aae7