Life coach noticed a man collecting anonymous letters for struggling strangers — the story behind it left him speechless
His response proved steady words of support can matter more than we think.
Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of suicide that some readers may find distressing.
A routine run turned into an unexpected encounter when a life coach stopped to pick up handwritten pages blowing across the pavement in the rain. In a video he posted on Instagram on March 7, from his account @tomtrotter_, Tom Trotter explained that he had noticed a man placing small handwritten sheets on the ground despite the rain, and when some slipped away, he bent down to gather them before realizing they were letters.
Trotter had only managed to read the first few lines of one letter, but what he saw made him curious about the purpose behind it. When he asked about it, the man introduced himself as Ben and explained that the letters were connected to a project he had created online. "I've got a website that anyone in the world can write a letter to someone who's feeling suicidal. If I can write a letter so that someone can read it and it can potentially save someone, then that would be amazing," he said.
During their conversation, Ben shared that the idea came to him when he had lost his younger brother Sam to suicide several years earlier. Ben, whose full name is Ben West, shares his work online under the name @iambenwest and has spoken publicly about his brother's story on various platforms. In an interview with BBC Newsbeat, he described the incident that happened when he was 17 years old. He had been getting ready for school when he heard his mother screaming upstairs. When he rushed into Sam's room, he found him unconscious and spent 20 minutes performing CPR in an attempt to save him.
Sam had been diagnosed with clinical depression and died at the age of 15. "It was like I woke up the day afterwards and was suddenly an adult. I lost my childhood," Ben told the BBC. The grief from that experience eventually led him to create a campaign called Reasons To Stay, a website where strangers can write supportive letters for people who may be struggling with their mental health. Visitors who arrive at the site are shown random messages written by people they have never met, offering encouragement and reminding them that someone out there cares. West said that the project delivered about 250,000 letters in just seven days.
Ben admitted that part of what motivates him is the thought that a message like that might have helped his brother during his darkest moment. Hearing that story left a strong impression on Trotter, who later decided to contribute to the project and write a letter himself. "I wish I could go back and just put this into Sam's hands," he told Trotter. "Everything you say there about waiting for things to get better, because things can get better. You never know what tomorrow might bring."
West's project and the impact it has clearly show how steady words of support can matter more than we think, and many studies back it up. In a clinical trial involving U.S. military personnel, adding brief "Caring Contacts" supportive messages to standard care was associated with lower rates of suicidal thoughts (80% vs 88%) and fewer suicide attempts (9% vs 15%) during follow-up compared with standard care alone.
In a follow-up post, Trotter shared photos of the two of them and published the letter he wrote for the campaign, acknowledging that difficult moments can make the future feel uncertain while reminding readers they "do not need all the answers. Just stay." Ben later told him the letter had already reached around 100 people through the project, and 25 of them said the message helped them. "That genuinely meant the world," Trotter wrote. West believes the reason the idea resonates is that it does not try to solve someone's problems. "Because it's a stranger, you don't know their situation. So the only thing you can rely on is connection and warmth and kindness," he said.
You can follow Tom Trotter (@tomtrotter_) for more fitness and Ben West (@iambenwest) for more inspiring content.
If you are having thoughts about taking your own life, or know of anyone who is, please contact The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433)
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