'He had so much to give': Heartbroken mum of Elliot Taylor speaks out after tragic car park fall

The heartbroken mum of a Elliot Taylor, who jumped to his death in Blackpool town centre, has vowed to do all she can to save other families the unbearable pain of losing a loved one.
Elliot's mum Catherine Taylor and Empowerment CEO Mike CrowtherElliot's mum Catherine Taylor and Empowerment CEO Mike Crowther
Elliot's mum Catherine Taylor and Empowerment CEO Mike Crowther

Elliot, of Squire’s Gate Lane in South Shore, told his mum Catherine ‘I can’t live like this’ just one week before jumping from the roof of Talbot Road multi-storey on September 14 last year.

The 24-year-old had suffered for eight weeks from severe anxiety and debilitating headaches possibly caused by past cocaine use.

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Catherine said: “Elliot was popular, fun-loving, really friendly, and very able to get on with lots of people. But he was able to put on a good act around people, which a lot of people going through mental health issues feel pressured to do. I didn’t know how bad it was until later.

Elliot TaylorElliot Taylor
Elliot Taylor

“We have all been absolutely devastated. Every day I wake up and realise it’s still real. I’m just heartbroken.

“He had so much to offer in life. He had so much to give. But he couldn’t see an end to things. He couldn’t see that anything was ever going to get better.

“I don’t apportion blame to anyone, but that was how he felt. Nobody understood how much pain he was in.”

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Elliot, who worked as a sales assistant, had a history of depression and anxiety, and is believed to have turned to drugs as a way of dealing with his problems.

The plot of land where Elliot's Place will be builtThe plot of land where Elliot's Place will be built
The plot of land where Elliot's Place will be built

He began to experience extreme discomfort in his head after experiencing a bad reaction to taking cocaine in January last year. He stopped taking the drugs, but the problem persisted.

Meanwhile his mental health deteriorated. His inquest at Blackpool town hall this week heard that, by September, he was ‘very distressed’ and ‘crying constantly’.

His mum hopes that Elliot’s Place, a community hub where men living in Blackpool can go to share their feelings in a safe and supportive environment, will help save other young lives.

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She said: “This is going to be a support service for young men. It’s somewhere where they can go on the day, without needing to be referred.

“We found that there was nowhere for us to access for Elliot apart from going through a long referral process which wasn’t particularly accessible. We want this to be an easily accessible drop-in centre where young men can support other young men through whatever problems they may have.

“Elliot had anxiety and he was struggling. He made some efforts, he got a job and he was doing really well. But he did struggle with his mental health and he turned to using cocaine, which didn’t help. It alleviated the anxiety in the short-term, but then caused a problem in itself as it made him unwell.

“Elliot’s Place is about supporting young men’s mental health in a positive way, so they don’t turn to other ways of dealing with it, be that drugs or alcohol.

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“We don’t want any other family to go through what we have.”

The hub will be built in the gardens of Empowerment, a mental health charity, on Bispham Road in North Shore.

Catherine and her family, friends and supporters have already raised £18,500 of the £30,000 needed to start work, and it is hoped the project will be completed by summer this year.

Empowerment CEO Mike Crowther said: “One of the things we provide is support for people with serious mental health issues, and one of the things we are really passionate about as a charity is these young men who are experiencing mental health problems but can’t speak about them because of embarrassment or shame.

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“What happens then is that these young men remain very poorly, and they reach a state of desperation. In this case, Elliot came to believe there was no way out other than to end his own life.

“For some time we have been wanting to start up a project that would enable young men to support each other and provide a safe space where they could be open about their struggles. We were approached by Catherine two weeks after Elliot had taken his own life; she wanted to do something that would help people not get to the point Elliot got to.

“At the same time we were approached by a group of young men whose friend’s stepdad had also taken his own life, and spoke to them about what they wanted.

“Elliot is our inspiration. Elliot came to our attention because he ended his own life, but he was an amazing young man, always described as cheerful and helpful, and we want to remember that. Though he had these struggles, he made other people’s lives better, and that’s what we want to do as well.”

People can find out more about Empowerment and donate to the creation of Elliot’s Place online at www.empowermentcharity.org.uk.

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