Ricky Briffa written by Jayne Briffa

Ricky Briffa
15/08/88 – 04/12/2023
Ricky was one of three children.
Son of Tony & Jayne Briffa
Brother to Amy & Adam
 
In 1993 Ricky moved to Malta at the age of 5 to start a new life with Tony, Jayne, Amy & Adam. Although it was never common knowledge to other people that Ricky was adopted because he was never treated any different to his siblings. A brand-new start in Malta is what he needed.
Growing up in the Sun, Sea & Sand, Ricky was a happy child. He was always the joker loved by all his friends and enjoyed time with his siblings. They were like the 3 Musketeers and were inseparable.

Ricky attended school at Dell La Salle in Malta, he was a very popular pupil. He enjoyed sports and loved to play football. He played for St Patricks and was also selected to play for the Maltese under14 national team. Football wasn’t his only sport; he was also talented at Athletics & Basketball

Ricky loved the Sea and thanks to his dad he became a strong swimmer & loved to dive. I believe this is where his love for the water came from
When Ricky was young his father Tony taught him to play chess and over the years, he became a great Chess player. He would always achieve anything he put his mind to. His Mom & Dad always encouraged him to succeed.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the family had to return to the UK when Ricky was 15 years of age. This is when we believe Ricky’s life changed dramatically. He became unsettled not knowing where he belonged. He began to go down the wrong path after being back in the UK after a couple of years, but he was now an adult and he had to find his way.

Ricky had his first relationship and had his first-born son at the age of 20. At a young age, the relationship had many ups & downs and eventually, they parted ways. Ricky then had a volatile relationship not long afterward, leading him to be isolated from family & friends. He also turned to addiction as a coping mechanism.

He reached a bad time in his life and a lot of so-called friends turned their backs on him and this is when he became involved with the football lads (YYA). He always stated they accepted him for who he was and he felt the love from them and they became like brothers.

Over the years Ricky spent some of his life in HMP where he met people who had a big impact on his life and helped him through this journey, battling with his thoughts about past traumas from the first 4 years of his life and what he experienced after arriving back in the UK. These friends were also a big part of his life, and they became like brothers.

Ricky had his second child, another little boy in 2019 and was bursting with pride, Due to past traumas Ricky couldn’t commit 100 % and this had a damaging effect on this relationship over time. He began to put himself down and thought he wasn’t good enough.
He reached his lowest in December 2022 and reached out to his family, We helped him and in January 2023 he was asked by a close friend from Mandem Meetup to stop drinking. This is where Ricky turned a corner. If you gave Ricky a challenge he would do it. 

This is when Ricky began to go down the river and found how much it helped and began to share this with people and his friends began to come down the river, this is where Primal Instincts was founded with friends Lee & Chris.
The movement was growing quickly, and we were so proud Ricky had turned a corner, He was helping so many people with Mental Health and we couldn’t believe what he had achieved in the last 10 months.
We knew Ricky had his ups and downs, but we never knew he was battling his Mental Health because he was hiding it behind helping others. When we realised Ricky was missing, we never imagined we would have that devastating news. He always his behind that smile. That call will never go away.
 
If you suffer from mental health please speak to someone because all the demons and sadness you are feeling will be passed to your family and friends to carry when you are gone, The pain does not go away it just passes to the ones that have loved you.