Built by people who have lived experience.
A Place Called Here did not start as an idea for a charity. It started through losing a loved one to suicide, feeling isolated, with nowhere to access immediate support. That gap had to be filled with a safe, confidential space to share with others who had experienced the same traumatic loss.
Everyone called him Mick.
Natalie and Anton lost a deeply loved father and father-in-law, Michael Byrne, to suicide.
What followed was the part people do not talk about. Grief after suicide is its own thing. It arrives tangled up with stigma, guilt, anger and a set of questions that have no answers: the what ifs, the if onlys. Friends go quiet because they do not know what to say. The services that exist have waiting lists and barriers, and the ones that do not are clinical in a way that did not fit what we were looking for at that time.
What became obvious was how few places existed where you could access immediate support, with no time limits or assessments. Not be fixed, not be handed a leaflet. Just be in a room with people who already understood, because the same thing had happened to them.
So they built one.
The first meeting was attended by 35 people. Nobody expected that. The meeting is growing every week.
Why there are wings in our logo.
Mick loved Harley Davidson. The bikes, the badge, the whole thing. Anyone who knew him knew that about him within about five minutes.
So when the charity needed a mark, it was never going to be a ribbon or a candle. It was going to be his wings.
They sit above three words that describe what actually happens in the room, in the order it tends to happen.
Connect Hope Heal
Lived experience is not a nice extra. It is a necessity.
Everyone who runs and attends the group has lost someone to suicide. That is the reason people trust the room enough to say the things they have not said anywhere else.
- 01
Nobody is being judged
There is no referral process and no notes taken about you. You are not a case.
- 02
You set the pace
Some people talk on their first night. Some sit and say nothing at all. Both are totally fine. Always do what feels right for you and your journey.
- 03
We know what not to say
Because we have all had it said to us. Nobody in this room will tell you they know how you feel unless they do.
- 04
We are not clinicians
We are honest about that. When someone needs clinical or one to one support, we say so and we help them find it.
Who you will meet.
Co-founder
Anton
Mick’s son-in-law. Anton works full time as well as being a father. He is responsible for all operational management and oversees organisational development. Anton facilitates the peer support groups, co-ordinates the wellbeing events and is a lead safeguarder.
Co-founder
Natalie
Mick’s daughter. Natalie works full time and is a mother, alongside her organisational and strategic leadership as chairperson of the board. She also supports Anton in facilitating the groups, and is a safeguarder.
Glasgow Community Champion of the Year 2025.
Natalie was named Community Champion of the Year at the Glasgow Times Community Champion Awards 2025, for the work she and Anton have built in Mick’s memory.
Our board
A Place Called Here is governed by a board of trustees who bring marketing, governance and lived experience to the charity, including members of the group.
- FrankTrusteeMental health, lived experience and operational support
- AshleighBoard SecretaryOperational and organisational support, with lived experience
- GillianTrusteeOrganisational development
- DaniTrusteeAdvisory and strategic support
- GaryTreasurerFinance
Hear it in our own words.
Natalie and Anton have told this story on other people’s podcasts: about Mick, about grief after suicide, and about why the room exists.
The Widow Diaries
Remembering Mick: turning pain into purpose.
Episode 1, with Natalie and Anton.
The Canmore Trust Podcast
A Place Called Here: a conversation with Natalie.
Episode 4.
The room Mick never got to sit in is open every Wednesday.
Come to a group