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MILLION DIE BY SUICIDE
MORE
than 1 million people have died world wide more have died from
suicide in the last year, than in all the wars, terrorism and violence
combined.
A life is lost to suicide, somewhere in the world, every 40 seconds
while every 3 seconds someone tries to take their own life.
These are the shocking statistics as Samaritans’ volunteers across
the UK and Ireland continue their dedicated emotional support work
24:7 as the theme for this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day on
Monday September 10 is announced as World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD).
The theme of this year's WSPD - hosted by the International
Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP)and the World Health
Organsation (WHO) is "Suicide across the Lifespan."
UK AND IRLEAND SUICIDE STILL TOO HIGH
In 2005 - the latest Samaritans’ figures available - there were a
total 6045 suicides in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
“I spent 3 hours on the ’phone last night telling a complete
stranger about my depression, anxiety and suicidal feelings. I wish
I could tell the woman I spoke to that I am still alive, because
when I hung up I was still planning to end my life and she knew
that. But straight after I realised I felt better because she had
listened to me, so I went to the hospital instead.”
Samaritans’ caller.
In the UK and Ireland suicide trends have shown a 9.5% decrease over
the decade from 1995 - 2005.
There was a marked increase in suicides in the UK and Ireland among
young men aged 15 - 34 in the 1980s however between 1993 and 2005
the suicide rate for men in this age group has shown a 32% fall.
This does not mean though that suicides for young men are falling
everywhere every year. In England there were 309 suicides for 15 to 24
year old males in 2005 against 292 in 2004. In Scotland there were
112 suicides in 2005 in 25 to 34 year old men against 109 in 2004. In
Northern Ireland there were 30 suicides in 2005 among 15 to 24 year old
males against 19 in 2004 and 36 in 2005 in the 25 to 34 men’s age
range as against 18 in 2004. And in the Republic of Ireland there
were 69 suicides in 2005 in the 15 to 24 male age range as against 63
in 2004. Suicide rates remain too high and Samaritans’ vision is for
a society in which fewer people die by suicide. Suicide figures are
too high throughout the lifespan; one of the highest increases in
2005 across the UK and Ireland was for men aged 55 to 64. In this
group 590 took their own lives as against 489 in 2004.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is sponsored by the
International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), in
collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Its theme
changes each year and the 2007 theme emphasises the fact that
suicide occurs across all ages.
Edinburgh and The Lothians Samaritans were involved in 2006 with ‘A
Service for Those Touched by Suicide’ and the feedback was that
several who attended, who had indeed been affected by suicide, were
able to find some measure of closure for the first time.
Edinburgh and The
Lothians Samaritans are again this year involved in a week of
suicide prevention events in their area from September 10 (WSPD) to
September 16 2007 which will again include ‘A Service for Those
Touched by Suicide’, to be held at 3pm on Sunday 16 September at
St Augustine’s Church, 41 George IV Bridge Edinburgh. The service is
for people of all faiths and for those of no particular faith, who
are encouraged to attend an informal nondenominational service. The
event is organised by Samaritans, Choose Life and Edinburgh
Community Mental Health Chaplaincy.
Samaritans in the Western Isles of Scotland, as part of Choose
Life’s suicide prevention week of activities, will begin its email
support service to anyone needing Samaritans emotional help on WSPD,
10 September 2007.
Miles Brandrick, 18, from Cheslyn Hay is
swimming a mile to raise funds for Walsall & District Samaritans.
Miles’ swim takes place at Cheslyn Hay Leisure Centre, Saredon Road,
Cheslyn Hay between 12.50 and 1.45 pm on Monday 10 September 2007 (WSPD).
Please visit the
event
website.
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Andrew Lockley,
Walsall branch’s publicity officer said:- “Suicide is a
worldwide issue affecting people of all age groups from adolescents
and young adults right through to older adults. We want to take
today’s event as an opportunity to remind people that there is
something that can be done about this major cause of death in modern
society. Everyone needs support at some stage of their lives. By
being able to talk confidentially about the emotional issues
affecting them at difficult times, many people can find the strength
to carry on and find a way forward.”
Samaritans’ volunteers in Northern Ireland aim to get the suicide
prevention message across to students on September 10 WSPD, by
placing Samaritans’ materials in rooms on the campuses at the
University of Ulster and Queen’s University, Belfast.
Samaritans’ DEAL programme gives school ‘teens’ coping skills
Samaritans’ work towards improving emotional health and coping
skills ‘across the Lifespan’ is reflected in comments made by
the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) to mark
WSPD 2007. The IASP stresses the importance of school based
programmes and developing children’s emotional coping skills.
Samaritans in the UK and Ireland introduced its own Developing
Emotional and Leaning Awareness Programme (DEAL) to 6,000 secondary
schools last October 2006. The programme was specially developed and
designed to be taught in a range of school lessons by teachers to
improve coping skills in 14-16 year olds, to enable them to cope
with the tough emotional issues they might face in life and to equip
them with the skills to be able to support their peers if they
needed help. Details of DEAL can be found at
www.samaritans.org/DEAL.
Samaritans’ WorkLife targets stress in workplace
The IASP singles out the workplace as an ideal environment for
trying to reduce anxiety and stress among adults. Workplace bullying
is said to have been a factor in 100 suicides in Ireland last year.
Clinical Psychologist Michael Mullally, who specialises in the area,
said the problem is now reaching epidemic proportions. He spoke last
week at the IASP conference in Kerry. Samaritans has its own
WorkLife training for both managers and staff available to help HR
professionals and managers cope better with stress and emotional
issues in the workplace. Details of WorkLife can be found at
www.samaritans.org/worklife.
The IASP says many people who take their own lives in their middle
years have seen their GP for depression in the week before, while
the elderly who take their own lives have often seen a doctor for
depression or pain in the previous weeks. Samaritans operates a
third party referral scheme which it actively encourages the
charity’s ‘partners’ working within the healthcare sector to
make full use of. This third-party referral system allows a GP to
contact Samaritans and a volunteer would then contact the GP’s
patient to see if some emotional support is needed. The outcome of
the contact between Samaritans and that person would then be
entirely confidential as this is Samaritans’ normal procedure. This
3rd party referral system is there for anyone to use; it is open to
any member of the public who has any concerns that someone they know
might need some emotional support. The IASP points out; as
Samaritans has said before, that older people can have emotional
problems if they live alone and become socially isolated or lonely.
Volunteers provide support in 40 countries through Befrienders
Worldwide Samaritans helps support people with any type of emotional anxiety;
from children as young as 6 years old to adults of 90 years old.
Samaritans’ concept of properly selected and trained volunteers
carrying out ‘active listening’ for those in need has now
spread world-wide and through the Befrienders Worldwide network
there are now organisations with 30,000 volunteers working like
Samaritans’ volunteers in 40 other countries. Samaritans manages the
international website for all these charities
befrienders.org which contains self help
information for people in distress or those wanting to help others,
in 21 languages. Samaritans is working on a toolkit to distribute to
all Befrienders Worldwide member centres in their own languages for
them to use to help improve internet safety and support - especially
for those who may be young and vulnerable and turning to the
internet for information on subjects such as suicide or self- harm.
Samaritans has worked with the internet industry, including search
engines such as Google and AOL, to prioritise Samaritans’ website
when a variety of search phrases are typed into computers. This
allows for people to be directed towards positive information and
support when they have emotional problems, rather than towards
negative sites which could be harmful to them.
In the last year over
1,000 people who initially typed in the phrase "I want to kill
myself" chose to turn to Samaritans’ website when the search
engines offered Samaritans to them as the first option.
Through the
toolkit being developed, this initiative can now be developed into
21 languages and taken to 40 countries. |
