When Tamworth woman Belinda Edwards attempted suicide she was soon left feeling alone again without a support network.
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"I ended up overdosing, and I was fortunate somebody found me ... I went up to the hospital in an ambulance and ended up in ICU," she said.
"When I then got onto a normal ward they then said to me 'ok, you're over the worst of it. You're now right to go home', and I said 'what do you mean I'm right to go home?'."
Ms Edwards was one of more than 100 people who attended Lifeline's Suicide Prevention Day walk on the weekend at Tamworth's No.1 oval.
For Ms Edwards, the walk showed her a level of support that has been alien to her while bouncing between health services.
"They [Tamworth hospital] put me into Banksia after much argument about whether I should go in there."
She said she was then told Banksia was "overcrowded" and that they'd need to send her to Armidale.
For Ms Edwards, this meant she'd be separated from any community that would be able to support her.
"I said 'I actually want to go back to Tamworth because I'm from Tamworth, and that's where my supports are'," she said.
Her experience is something Ms Edwards will never forget, but she said seeing so many people walking together for Lifeline was wonderful.
"It's good to see such solidarity amongst people," she said.
"And to see that this is not something that we need to be ashamed of, or hide under a bush.
"To see people surrounding us and saying 'you're not alone in you pain', it feels really lovely."
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This was a feeling shared by Coordinator of the Suicide Prevention Day event for Lifeline, Kimberley Squires.
"Someone explained it to me as being like everyone was throwing their arms around each other at this one event," she said.
"We had so many more people than we would have expected."
As well as the laps, people were also able to stick commemorative notes to a display wall erected at the side of the oval.
People stopped to write the names of loved ones lost to suicide along with notes of encouragement for others.
"It's a way that people can still be anonymous, but still release those feelings that they have within them," Ms Squires said.
"It brings home to people that suicide is real and affects so many more people than you would imagine."
The walk culminated in people laying wattle flowers around a huge blue heart painted on the oval, symbolising Lifeline.
For Ms Squires, it was mission accomplished, with people like Ms Edwards once again finding support in the community.
"I absolutely think that it did make people realise that they're not alone and there is a community of people experiencing the same journey."
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