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NINA Bice has first hand experience of the taboos that surround suicide.
That's why she and partner Kevin Harding will ride their motorbikes through Bendigo this Sunday with the Black Dog riders, an organisation who raise awareness about mental illness and suicide.
The ride is part of the Suicide Prevention Awareness Network walk and is one of many ways the couple are drawing attention to the issue in the wake of losing Ms Bice's daughter, Tayla.
Tayla took her own life at the age of 17.
"We're never going to understand it and from what I have studied on suicide, we need to be thankful that we don't understand it, because when you do understand it, that means you're in that situation yourself," Ms Bice said.
But even if people can't understand it, Ms Bice is doing everything she can to encourage people to talk about it.
"You can walk around and shake a tin and say, 'look this is for suicide awareness' and (people will) say 'no, no spare change'," she said.
"I think it's because people are so sensitive about it. Everyone has such a different opinion, there's people that say it's selfish, it's this or it's that.
"To me it doesn't matter what it is. It is there, it's real. There are so many people's lives affected by it and there are ways that people can get help for it."
Ms Bice was faced with a very difficult situation a few months ago when her nine-year-old son came home with fresh information from some school mates about what had happened to his sister.
Ms Bice had kept the details of Tayla's death from her son to protect him.
"I thought I would have had a few more years to tell him but school kids are school kids and told him in quite graphic detail what had happened to his sister.
"And I thought, I can continue to protect him and then it just dawned on me that no, this is what it is.
"Here I am trying to raise money for suicide awareness and get it out there and get rid of that stigma and I'm lying to him."
It was a relief to tell her son.
"He said, 'so if I don't talk about my feelings, does that mean I'll no longer be on this earth?', and I said 'yes'.
"Plain and simple in the eyes of a nine year old.
"He'll now come up to me and say 'mummy I'm not feeling good can I talk to you about it'."
Ms Bice said a big challenge after Tayla's death was acknowledging that her daughter had a problem.
"Whether it be with herself, with society or with me, who knows, she had a problem that she couldn't talk about," she said.
"She didn't know where to go or what to do to talk about it and she didn't feel safe enough to be in this world anymore, which I find quite sad."
These days Ms Bice's response is to face the issue head on.
"I don't hide from any questions or anything in regards to suicide because, cancer is real, diseases are real, this is real.
"This is a disease, probably a bigger killer than cancer because people can live with it for so many years and not get the help and they go through living hell."
Talking about her journey with others is difficult at times and Ms Bice finds one of the most frustrating reactions is sympathy.
"I don't want sympathy. This is not about me. This is about other people out there with an illness they don't know how to talk about," she said.
"I don't want sympathy for losing a child. I want people to look at me and go, 'wow, she's still going and she's positive about it'."
Ms Bice said it was vital to listen to people who had a mental illness or who were suicidal.
"People don't listen to them or it falls on deaf ears because they just don't believe," she said.
"And I'm guilty of that. Obviously (Tayla) had issues and talked to me about it.
"I didn't see the bigger picture, I didn't see that obviously she had some very, very serious issues.
"Their problems are so real. Their problems are real regardless of what you think about it."
Ms Bice opened the Bella Blue Cafe in Hargreaves Street last year in memory of her daughter.
She is working with mental health organisation Headspace to reach out to mentally ill young people.
"I feel so sorry for kids in today's society because there's so much pressure," Ms Bice said.
"I remember my teenage years, they were horrible and you add to that social media and the expectations, it's a big deal".
The SPAN walk starts in Dai Gum San in the Chinese precinct on Sunday at 11am. All are invited to attend.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800.