“I love nature,” says Esther Ghey as she gazes out of the window at the duck pond opposite her home. “When Brianna was taken from us, my daughter Alisha, partner Wes, the dogs and I would go for walks every evening.” Noticing the different flowers blooming on those early spring walks became a coping mechanism for a family coming to terms with a callous and very public loss.
On 11 February 2023, Ghey’s 16-year-old daughter Brianna was murdered, the victim of an abhorrent premeditated attack by two fellow school pupils – partly motivated by her transgender identity. “We had so many pink skies around that time,” Ghey says. “During dark times, it’s important to take time to slow down and really appreciate that there is beauty in the world and that it isn’t all bad.
” Seven months later, Ghey, along with the Warrington Guardian , set up Peace in Mind, a campaign to bring mindfulness practices into schools and help kids channel negative emotions and thoughts into something more positive. The programme is running in every school in Warrington and Ghey plans to roll it out nationally. At the time of writing, the campaign has already raised £88,600.
By GQ Ghey has since appeared on Newsnight and taken her campaigning to the House of Commons, and she is now at the centre of the debate around banning phones in schools. With her soft, cheery Cheshire lilt, Ghey has captured the nation’s heart and attention – not least when she agreed to meet the mother of one .