Welcome to The Jordan Legacy's Hope for Life UK Conference 2025
On Tuesday, December 2nd, at the Yorkshire Events Centre, Harrogate, The Jordan Legacy hosted our third Hope for Life Conference - a day that many said would live with them for a long time.
Look out for details for our next conference in 2027
About the Hope for Life Conference
It began as finding some way to deflect Jordan’s family from the immense sadness we experience each December 4th since he took his own life in 2019, a way to create inspiration and a belief that from his devastating loss, we could find hope again and by doing so, inspire others to believe that also.
Hope for Life 2025 – a summary of another inspiring day of hope:
“I felt incredibly emotional throughout the day, yet I left feeling inspired, motivated, and genuinely full of hope.”
“What struck me most was the sense of safety and openness in the room. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a conference where it felt so natural to be vulnerable.”
On Tuesday, December 2nd, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, more than 120 delegates, from across the UK and as far away as Malta, attended our third Hope for Life (UK) Conference.
What each person attending the conference experienced, was story after story of triumph over adversity and hope that, out of tragedy, positive change can happen.
From an emotional, powerful and inspiring talk by Ellen Roome, founder of #JoolsLaw, to the energy of Keith Senior and Adrian Morley, giants (literally) from the world of Rugby League who delivered an interactive talk and activity session, there were tears and laughs in equal measure.
The day began with opening words by our Founder, Steve Phillip, followed by an inspiring video by Caroline Roodhouse, author of the best-selling book “Daddy Blackbird“.
Caroline shared her story of losing her husband to suicide in 2018 but how her ‘Triangle of Hope’ has helped her to turn tragedy into hope, for her family and for others too. The video also features a wonderfully created animated film, “Words Matter” by her 16 year old daughter Evie.
The morning session
Our first speaker on stage was Oly Newton. Oly shared how mental ill-health and OCD led to him contemplating suicide before turning his life around through running.
Next up was Akeela Mohammed, who having lost her husband, Ayaz, to suicide, told no one for 6-months how he had died. Rather than explaining his death as a suicide, instead, she told everyone he had died from a heart attack. Akeela talked about the challenges she faced in overcoming the stigma surrounding suicide in her culture and community and how she established the first Muslim Wellness Conference in Doncaster in 2024 and a second in November 2025.
Following a short refreshment break, next to appear on stage was campaigner Ellen Roome. During a highly emotional talk, Ellen explained why she is desperate to discover why her seemingly mentally healthy 14 year old son, ‘Jools’, died in his bedroom one evening in April 2022.
Ellen is now a dedicated campaigner for #JoolsLaw, in memory of her son, to ensure all parents are able to access their child’s mobile data following their death.
Co-founder of The Baton of Hope UK, Mike McCarthy was next on stage and humbly suggested that he’d find it difficult to follow Ellen’s inspiring talk. He needn’t have worried. In what was possibly his most passionate speech yet, Mike talked about his son Ross’s plea, in a final note to his family, to ‘Please fight for mental health’ and how important the voices of young people are in the collaborative mission to reduce the number of suicide deaths in the UK.
A game of rugby in the conference room?!
Following such inspiring, yet highly emotional opening talks, it was time to change the mood and in stepped two giant legends of Rugby League, Keith Senior and Adrian Morley from the charity, Rugby League Cares. Using their own experience of what it means to be ‘a man’ in the tough world of Rugby League, they both delivered an enthusiastic, often humorous and energetic session about managing emotions. The session included some audience participation, involving a number of them in an impromptu rugby training session in the main conference room!
Next, it was time for lunch but if you thought the itinerary was about to stop whilst delegates sat down for their meal, you’d be wrong!
Lunchtime – music and awards to be handed out
As delegates moved through to the dining room to be treated to a sumptuous 2 course, sit-down lunch, they were also treated to a performance by singer, songwriter, Mike McGrother. Mike’s song’s reflect the often difficult experiences faced by men employed in the steelworks of Teesside. One song, in particular, was taken from a poem read at the funeral of a 31 year old family man and onshore rigger, Peter McIvor, who tragically took his own life in 2019.
Mike went on to form Infant Hercules, a male voice choir that meets weekly in Stockton pub, “The Storytellers. Their website describes how 40 to 50 men from across the five boroughs, come together and sing ‘songs in the key of ale’.
During Mike’s performance, there were two particularly poignant moments; one when Peter’s father, Graeme, joined Mike on stage and another, when Mike invited all the men in the room to join him on stage and sing along to the chorus of his final song.
The Awards
Once lunch had been eaten, it was time for our awards ceremony. The first of our two beautiful glass trophies to be awarded went to Sean’s Place, from Bootle in Merseyside, an amazing centre that supports over 450 men every single week, men who are now finding hope again. Debbie Rogers stepped up to collect The Jordan Legacy’s “Spirit of Collaboration” Award and as always, spoke passionately about Sean’s Place and how collaboration, particularly with the NHS, has been so important to the work Debbie and her team are doing.
The recipient of our second trophy, the “Creating Impact Award”, needed little introduction, having just delivered her empowering talk that morning. Ellen Roome was recognised for the achievements she has made in directly engaging with so many of the social media tech giants, to hold them to account and the significant impact she is making through her campaigning on national television and other media outlets and her frequent meetings with important government influencers.
There was more to come during the afternoon!
If you thought the morning was inspiring…..
To ease everyone into the afternoon speaker sessions, guests were treated to a wonderful musical interlude by good friend of The Jordan Legacy, singer, songwriter Melody Reed. Melody has performed at all three of our Hope for Life Conferences since 2021. It wouldn’t be the same event without her support.
Melody began her set by performing the extremely poignant song, “Stay” (listen to the YouTube version here), co-produced with York based poet, Olivia Mulligan. She finished her performance with a surprise – a duet with Otley’s very own Town Crier, Terry Ford. Together they performed a powerful version of “The Prayer”, previously sung together by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion.
Now to the afternoon speakers.
Nina Smith is a former primary school teacher, who tragically lost her brother, Will, to suicide. Now a suicide prevention advocate and PHD Researcher at Edge Hill University, in 2024 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and travelled across America and Australia, learning about how much more supportive many schools in those countries are when it comes to providing mental health care for children and preventing deaths by suicide.
Nina spoke about how ‘gob-smacked’ she was by the commitment made by schools in other countries to train suicide prevention in schools, starting with teachers and how many schools had in-house school psychologists and counsellors, as well as well-developed policies and strategies, compared with a significant lack of these in UK schools. Nina works closely with the 3 Dads Walking and has published guides to help schools introduce suicide prevention strategies and policies.
A double tragedy
When you lose one close family member to suicide, it rocks your world to its core. Losing two loved ones this way, in close succession, would be unimaginable to many people. This is Angela Allen’s story. Angela lost her 23 year old daughter, Kat, to suicide in November 2019. Kat’s step-dad and Angela’s husband, Damien, found this event too difficult to cope with and 8 months later he took his own life.
Angela’s experience and the lack of support available to her at that time, led to her founding Bags for Strife. BAGS provide practical and emotional support for those who may need it, particularly following a loss of a loved one by suicide.
Following one final refreshment break, mid-afternoon and a further opportunity for delegates to chat with the 11 charity stand-holders and network with other guests, it was time for our final speaker.
Dr. Manoj Krishna was a spinal surgeon for more than 20 years, when he was moved by much of the suffering in the world to establish the Human Wisdom Foundation, which led to the creation of the HappierMe app for adults and teenagers.
Steve joined Dr. Krishna on stage as they discussed how much of our own suffering can be attributed to how our mind reacts to stressors which come at us from the outside world. The conversation explored how, with practice, we can learn to Invest in our own mental health before emotional crisis takes over. You can listen to this enlightening discussion by watching this YouTube video.
Summing up
It is impossible to truly convey what this day meant to those who attended. The many comments online, the emails and social media messages we have received, all talk of an event that will stay in the memories of those who came to Harrogate on December 2nd hoping to find glimmers of hope and left with much more in many cases.
We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to an amazing day, including our charity stand-holders (images below) and Anna and Karen from Speak Their Name, whose incredible quilt displays were a centrepiece of the main conference room.
We hope to replicate this experience at our next Hope for Life Conference in 2027 and look forward to seeing you there.