Spotlight with Adam Payne
I started by asking Adam to tell me a little about himself and why he has chosen to support The Canmore Trust.
Adam lost his flat mate and friend Melissa in October 2025 and was supported by Canmore’s Experienced Friends, a team of volunteers who have themselves been bereaved by suicide and are trained to support others who find themselves facing this devastating loss. The Experienced friends visited the University in the days that followed Melissa’s death and met with her flatmates. Speaking of Melissa, Adam shared that he first met her at college and had been delighted when they discovered they had been allocated the same accommodation. Melissa’s bright smile and chatty confidence hid the struggles she faced with her mental health. Having previously experienced the death of another friend by suicide, Adam began to wonder what needed to change to prevent this from happening to others. He believes that we need to create a culture of openness where people can speak about suicide.
‘It is so important. You never really know what someone else is going through,’ Adam says. ‘That is what I like about The Canmore Trust, that you are talking to people about this.’
Next, I asked Adam if he could remember the moment that he decided to do something so challenging to raise funds for us.
Adam tells me he was with his Mum, who he describes as his rock, talking about Melissa and realising that he wanted to be part of the change. Adam shared his worry that there is still such a stigma around mental health and suicide, and he wanted to show others that there is support out there. Adam has always wanted to do a sky dive but the time wasn’t right for that and so he found the next best thing, a bungee jump.
Then Adam spoke to Susan, Melissa’s mum, who was very supportive. Susan was there on the day of the jump with Melissa’s sister. Adam has got to know the family over the past few months and tells me that as he cared for Melissa, that has extended to her family.
Adam has an air of quiet confidence, but I was curious to know if anything surprised him about The Highland Fling experience.
The level of support he received was humbling, Adam told me. Raising over £1800 was beyond anything he had hoped for. ‘People I hardly knew, or I hadn’t seen for years made donations, it was amazing,’ he says. He appreciated every single message and donation. Then on the day of his jump Adam’s phone buzzed constantly with people wishing him luck and cheering him on. It didn’t stop there either, at Garry Bridge, the site of the jump, Adam had a whole crew of people who had turned up to support him. Family, friends, Melissa’s family and people from Canmore. ‘I really appreciated that. John, Isobel and Anne all came to watch me, I wasn’t expecting that.’
This brought us nicely to my next question. What did Adam learn about himself?
Adam took a moment to think about this then answered that he now had a much deeper understanding of the impact a death by suicide has on so many people. Everyone experiences it differently and reacts in their own way. It is so important that we talk openly about it. That is why he wants to keep supporting Canmore. Speaking about Melissa at her funeral was a difficult thing to do but I gained so much confidence from it. It might help somebody else.
I wondered if there had been any high points or ‘pinch-me’ moments during his fundraising.
There were a few. Adam recalls sitting with John Gibson, founder and CEO of Canmore, and tentatively saying that he wanted to do something to give back to the trust and that he was thinking about a bungee jump. John’s answer was a resounding YES! Another pinch-me moment was checking the total on his Just Giving page and seeing the total keep growing.
On the day of the jump Adam stood on the ledge and looked down seeing all his supporters there looking up at him. He began to feel his knees go. ‘I just thought about Melissa and why I was doing it then I took the leap.’ Adam also loved that the jump brought Melissa’s family and his friends together.
Because we know that having support is so important, I wanted to know who supports Adam.
‘My Mum, she always has a buckle up and do it attitude,’ he said. Adam also describes having a good network of friends and family. The Canmore Trust has also been a huge support for Adam, and he advises people to reach out if they need support.
I asked Adam what was next for him.
A sky dive, he replies confidently. Then a really big epic adventure abroad. Adam plans to keep raising awareness of suicide and of The Canmore Trust and hopes to do a big event every other year.
Finally, I asked Adam what advice he would give other people who want to take on a fundraising challenge.
Remember why, he says. It might be quite an intimidating thing to do but keep in mind the cause and how much difference you can make. ‘Just do it!’ Adam says ‘although that is easy for me to say now I’ve done the thing. Just don’t have any regrets.’
