A campaigner is calling for more to be done to raise awareness of mental health issues.

Sharon Racklyeft, 61, of Church Mead Close, East Barnet, is a member of the Speak Out Against Psychiatry group, which campaigns against electroshock treatment.

She also sits on the Barnet Mental Health Partnership Board, which she got involved with two years ago.

Originally from Barnet, she spent nearly 30 years working as an international antiques dealer, and moved to Devon in 2004.

While she was there, she became ill, and was admitted to a Priory clinic in the West Country.

Eventually, she came back to London and attempted suicide several times, entering the hospital in Edgware in 2008.  

Since being released in 2011, she has campaigned for more resources and for more awareness of suicide.

She said she was shocked to hear about the death of Charlotte Faux, a social worker who committed suicide in the hospital last year.

Ms Racklyeft said: “I am very concerned about the suicide situation. There’s no campaigning in Barnet. Most people are too ill, and it’s very time consuming. Or the family are too distressed. It’s virtually impossible to get anything done.

“I cannot emphasise enough how much people need to be made aware. Three times as many men do it. For it to be the highest killer of men under 50 is incredible. It’s not a cry for help, it’s the last cry. It really is. It’s not taken seriously enough.”

Ms Racklyeft also said she worried it seemed a lot of the time like politicians are merely “paying lip service to it”.

She said: “I feel very much like a lone voice, there’s no campaign group in Barnet. No one comes forward. I would be very happy to start one. It just has to stop. How many people have to die? Something has to be done. You cannot turn back the clock when it is too late.”

Ms Racklyeft also said outer London boroughs tended to spend less on mental health than ones considered to have more social deprivation.

She added: “It’s not only people in poor circumstances. When you are ill and trying to end your life, you don’t take care. It just doesn’t work like that.”

A spokesman for the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust said: "Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Trust support additional investment in mental health services, and a much greater level of awareness from the public about the importance of mental health and wellbeing."

To contact Ms Racklyeft about getting involved in campaigning, email racklyeft1@hotmail.co.uk