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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 7, 2015 | 6 The Friendship Bench opens dialogue about depression by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff Spotlight "Connected to your Community" A n Oakville father is asking for the public's assistance in continuing his son's legacy of helping those struggling with depression and anxiety. Sam Fiorella is the co-founder of the Friendship Bench, a non-pro t organization that encourages students in post-secondary institutions to speak out about depression, anxiety and suicide so that those who need help feel they can get it without being stigmatized. The group also raises funds to support existing, on-campus student services programs dedicated to serving the mental health of the student body. Fiorella and some close friends founded the group following his son Lucas' suicide on Oct. 12, 2014. Lucas was only 19. Six months after his son's death, the wall above the mantle in the Fiorella home remains covered in photos showing the Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School graduate at all stages of his short life. Some of the more recent photos show him posing with friends at Carleton University in Ottawa while others are of him as a child, building a snow fort in the backyard with his younger sister Vanessa. In one, Lucas, barely a toddler, stands triumphantly on top of a play set, arms raised above his head with a huge smile across his face. Fiorella said that was the rst day his son had been able to walk with him to the nearby park and the rst day Lucas had gotten to the top of the play set all by himself. "Lucas was always a happy kid. Before puberty, he was very cuddly and always laughing. If you look at pictures of him before (age) 14, he was always laughing and giggling and making crazy faces," said Fiorella. "He was always very strong in building LEGO.... He did very well in school. He had lots of friends. He loved being here in Oakville and loved his schools. We didn't have any clue that during that time period, he was suffering." It was only after Lucas' death that his family learned from his journal and a doctor he had seen shortly before he died that he had been struggling with depression. Fiorella said, according to his son's journal, his feelings of depression date back to his early high school years. The Friendship Bench is a new mental health initiative created after the suicide of Oakville teenager, Lucas Fiorella (in framed photo), by his father, Sam Fiorella (above). | photo by Eric Riehl ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) Despite having lots of friends and a bright future, having just begun his second year at Carleton, where he was taking robotics, Lucas' writings indicate he never understood his place in the world. "Sitting at the dinner table, he was desperate to get up and leave because he couldn't take talk about mortgages and who said what to whom, whose birthday it was going to be that weekend and where we were going out for dinner. He couldn't stand that kind of conversation," said Fiorella. "If you talked to him about Red String Theory or a civil war in a particular country, all of a sudden he would be engaged.... In hindsight we should have picked up on some of these clues and that's why we are trying to educate people today. To make sure other He did very well in school. He had lots of friends. He loved being here in Oakville and loved his schools. We didn't have any clue that during that time period, he was suffering. Sam Fiorella Lucas' father parents and students see." Lucas ultimately ended his life in his dorm room at Carleton over the Thanksgiving long weekend. His death came as a devastating shock to his family who had no idea what he had been going through. Something Fiorella learned about his son after his death was because Lucas had been quietly struggling, he was able to recognize when others were doing the same. When Lucas saw someone in such a situation, his father said he would often intervene. One high school student who approached Fiorella said she had been going through a rough period in her life and was planning to kill herself when Lucas approached her at school, saw she was distressed and asked what was wrong. Fiorella said the girl was so taken aback that someone who was basically a stranger cared, she told Lucas what she was planning to do. see Father on p.7 NEIL OLIVER Vice ­President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Halton Region Editor in Chief Volume 53 | Number 36 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. 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