ON THE anniversary of his son’s last hours of life, Chris Berkhout will be alone on the road.
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He’ll be in the final hours of a lonely and reflective journey to seek solace after his son’s suicide and ensure Jarrod’s life “wasn’t for nothing”.
Mr Berkhout is cycling solo from Tamworth to Inverell over the next week, part of his road to recovery after his son’s suicide seven years ago.
It’s also the fourth year of his campaign to get people talking about mental illness and making donations to help other young people like his son.
Mr Berkhout will leave Tamworth headspace tomorrow morning and reach Inverell on the afternoon of November 12.
Jarrod took his own life there on November 13, 2010, at the age of 19.
Mr Berkhout said his yearly pilgrimage had brought him into contact with many people with tragic stories of their own, and he urged people to donate to headspace.
“I believe headspace is a very important organisation these days which didn’t exist in the ’90s,” he said.
“Maybe if it had been around before my son took his life, it might have made a difference.
“But if I can raise some awareness and some funds, then hopefully my son’s life wasn’t for nothing …
“No father should ever have to bury their child.”
Healing in the bush
Mr Berkhout will have dog Tezza along for the ride and a photo of Jarrod facing him, fixed to his handlebars, and will camp along the way.
He’s inviting people to ride with him from Tamworth to Attunga, but the rest of the time he plans to be alone, seeking healing in his beloved Australian bush.
“To me it’s not doing it hard, doing it rough, because I just love going bush, sleeping in tents – there’s nothing like it out there,” Mr Berkhout said.
“You wake up in the morning and you get a goanna walking through your campsite, those kind of things.
“You just can’t beat it – something you don’t get when you’re sitting around suburbia, that’s for sure.
“And I combine four things I love: I love me son, I love me dog, I love the bush and I love camping, so what better way to do it?”
Mr Berkhout said “anxiety gets to me” in the couple of weeks before his yearly ride.
He said he worried something would go wrong, but he persisted because “I believe [mental illness] is one of the best causes out there”.
“I met an old bloke in his 70s recently, and he told me, “My son took his own life a few years ago, too”.
“And I said, ‘Well, then I’m doing this for you as well as for myself.’”
Mr Berkhout said he’d seen Jarrod six weeks before his suicide and he’d seemed his usual “happy-go-lucky” self.
“But they’re the ones you don’t realise [are mentally unwell]; that have a facade; that are able to put on a false face,” he said.
“I’m still dealing with it and this is my way of dealing with it.
“It’s part of my recovery, my road to recovery.”
- To ride with Mr Berkhout on the first leg, be at headspace Tamworth before 8am on Wednesday.
- If you need to talk: call Headspace on 1800 650 890 or visit eheadspace.org.au
- To donate: headspace.org.au/get-involved