"He was a very kind and honest man"

Monday 13 May 2024

Two years' after her father's death by suicide, Elise Trebert has raised more than £10,000 for Guernsey Mind to try and help other people experiencing such tough times.

Kevin Trebert was 65 when he died in 2022.

Prior to his death, he had been under extreme stress and financial pressure due to a situation he was involved with.

"There'd been a long build up to it with some real personal struggles," explained Elise.

"It was a situation and he felt he couldn't find his way out. The financial difficulties was probably the biggest element there, and the stress.

"We knew, the last nine or 10 years, it had been difficult and all consuming for my parents and knowing the stress and false hope that was coming up every day...we obviously only saw that about half, so the suicide, I guess, came out of nowhere. It's not like we were expecting that."

Elise doesn't want her dad to only be remembered for his death though, saying he was a caring and supportive father, who really believed in her, especially when it came to helping her launch her businesses. 

"He was a very honest, kind man. I think that's probably the best way to describe him, as people say he was very kind and honest," she said. 

Pictured: Kevin Trebert was instrumental in his daughter launching both Baby Sensory in 2018 and Toddler Sense in 2022. Elise Trebert said he supported her financially and with administrative help, but most importantly he believed that she could run her own successful business. 

Elise's father died shortly before she launched the second part of her business, something which he had been closely involved with and she still misses his input in her professional and personal life. 

The recent second anniversary of his death and her business launching is what spurred Elise in to her fundraising effort, which surpassed all her expectations. 

"It was the second birthday of Toddler Sense, which was also the second anniversary of my dad's death. He died literally three weeks before I launched Toddler Sense so I thought it was quite relevant to kind of celebrate Toddler Sense's birthday, and to remember my dad by raising awareness of Guernsey Mind.

"I thought it would be a really nice charity to support. It felt quite relevant now, I felt ready and I wanted to do something in his memory."

Elise said her dad had been a huge support in her expanding her small business which had started when she bought Baby Sensory in 2018.

"I had my baby and Baby Sensory went up for sale. I bought it when she was four months old. I didn't have the money to purchase the business at the time, which is when my dad lent me the money. He was quite involved with this, and with the purchase.

"When I launched the business (Toddler Sense) after dad's death, I felt like I wasn't giving it my full self at that point as well. I was running so low, and it was just me, so it was hard. But I picked up and started to put a bit more energy and effort into it.

"It was a really hard time. It was especially hard for my daughter, to tell her that she doesn't fully understand but in time, that will be something that we'll discuss.

"She's got memories of her grandad as they they did have that really close relationship for a few years. Probably every other day, they spent time together. She's got loads of memories and we've done lots of nice videos and things to keep. 

"I think it's really important to be open. I'm willing to discuss my story with anybody, and I think it does help because I'm sure there are so many people out there that can relate to our story with their own. They might not feel as comfortable to share their own story, but I think it's so important that if you are open, it allows other people to feel comfortable to talk about it, too, and to look after their own mental health because it's something that some people might feel ashamed of or try and hide away from."

Pictured: This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, but Guernsey Mind and other charities are always available to help. 

When Mr Trebert died, his family had asked for donations to be sent to Guernsey Mind. Elise said that's why she wanted her anniversary event to also benefit the charity, so it can in turn help other people experiencing difficult times like her dad was. She has also personally supported the charity by taking part in other events such as the annual Sunrise Walk, which itself aims raise awareness around suicide, while contributing to Guernsey Mind’s ongoing work regarding suicide prevention and support.

"They do great work and I think they should be well supported," said Elise. 

"I've taken part in the Sunrise Walk too, and that feels really special. When you're getting to the end, it's beautiful, but it's more touching when you look around and there's so many people doing the same.

"I think that the conversations that people can have definitely help and people were just walking and talking, and it opened up a lot of conversations. 

"The night before I did that walk, I parked my car down at the bathing pools for the next morning so that when we got there we could drive back. I parked up, and this beautiful rainbow was just completely over the bathing pools, and that was really cool. I don't know...it was like a sign."

Events like the Gower Sunrise Walk of Hope raise money for Guernsey Mind's services, which include self help workshops, drop in groups, online support services, and more. 

The Toddler Sense two-year anniversary fundraiser contributed more than £10,000 to the charity's overall income which in turn will go towards funding these services. 

Elise said she's very proud of their contribution to these services. 

"...even if you can help one person out, you know, that's helped somebody, and hopefully with people being more aware and and holding more charity events it could just help one person, and hopefully that would then help another person and it can escalate that."

"We were really pleased," said Elise after her event. "We weren't really sure what kind of target we were aiming for. I started it off as a small thing to just celebrate Toddler Sense, and in memory of my dad, to raise a little bit of money again for Mind, and to raise a little bit of awareness as well.

"I'm happy to share my story and I've got a nice customer base as well, and I think it is important to share with anybody and everybody, and then I thought, 'right, we'll put a little raffle together', and it just kind of took me by surprise how it went. 

"There were so many good prizes coming in, and loads of support not just by businesses, but individuals as well. We had a lot of customers from our side who donated £100 vouchers and they did that on their own, off their own back, which was lovely. Lots of local businesses supported us, and we had donations from everywhere.

"We raised a huge amount of money and that's going to Mind."

Pictured: All photos of the Toddler Sense charity event were taken by Photo Sensory photographer Tracey Bougourd. 

The money was raised through the sale of 3,807 raffle tickets, and 92 children attending the event itself. 

"I'm always there to support charities," said Elise. "It was very consuming, but it's paid off. It's certainly something I'd like to look at doing again in the future just maybe not yet," she added.

"It feels a bit surreal now that the money has been counted. It's a nice feeling. I think everyone was quite shocked with the amount. I think it's more than most people thought. Everyone was very happy. I'm very proud."

Pictured (l-r): Todd - the Toddler Sense character, and Jo Le Prevost, Elise Trebert, and Tracey Bougourd. 

Although the money has been handed over to Guernsey Mind, the story isn't quite over yet...

Tomorrow, Elise and her colleague Jo Le Prevost, and Photo Sensory Photographer Tracey Bougourd are getting tattoos because of a bet they agreed when they started their fundraising journey. 

"The three of us discussed it and said if we can reach £500 (on the Justgiving page) then we'll agree to all get a matching Todd (pictured above) tattoo.

"The Children know Todd very well. 

"We're all booked in on the 14th of May, there's no getting out of it!"

The tattoos are being done for free by Luke Gallie, of The World's End tattoo parlour to support the fundraising for Guernsey Mind.

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£10k raised for Guernsey Mind