MORE than 40 people gathered at Burswood Park on on Tuesday night in August 2010 for a candlelight vigil, calling for change on mental health policy.

Organised by activist group GetUp, simultaneous vigils were held all around the country demanding improvements to mental health services and an end to the stigma associated with mental illness.

Local host and Victoria Park resident Lesley Dewar said she was passionate about new openness about mental health and better services after losing her daughter Annette to suicide nine years ago. The Candlelit Vigil was reported in the local Press #6100 Vigil for Mental Illness reported in Victoria Park  and widely commented upon in Twitter.

Lesley Dewar said “I have written about my daughter previously but this was the first time that I addressed the topic of suicide and mental illness in the open community. It was a very moving experience and one which helped to bring some healing and release to those who attended.”

This poem A Mother’s Prayer For A Lost Daughter was shared at both her funeral and the Candlelit Vigil