World Suicide Prevention day is an annual awareness day that takes place every 10th September. This annual awareness day is aimed to get everyone around the world to speak up and talk about suicide to show people that recovery IS possible.
Organisations, charities and communities all take World Suicide Prevention Day seriously and take advantage of the day to rally together to help spread awareness of how we can help create a world where fewer people die from suicide.
Every year World Suicide Prevention Day hold a different theme and point of focus in the hopes of drawing more people to their cause and to help bring light to a specific aspect of suicide. What ever the theme is that year, the goal is always still the same, to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is hosted by International Association For Suicide Prevention (or for short – IASP) who are dedicated to:
Preventing Suicidal Behaviour
Alleviating its effects
Providing a forum for academics, mental health professionals, crisis workers, volunteers and suicide survivors
Founded by the late Professor Erwin Ringel and Dr. Norman Farberow in 1960, IASP now includes professionals and volunteers from more than fifty different countries. IASP is a Non-Governmental Organisation covered with suicide prevention.
If you would like to learn more about International Association For Suicide Prevention or find out how you can help why not check out their website: IASP
So why is it so important to speak out about suicide?
– Well, just in 2018, it was recorded that in the UK and Republic of Ireland, more than 6,800 people died of suicide.
sAmaritans-suicide-stats-report
In the Uk, men are 3x more likely to die by suicide than women are and that stems from a number of things but the biggest one is the lack of normalising our emotions, especially for our men. Little boys are taught to be tough from a really young age, they are taught that cry makes you weak, that speaking out about your emotions and what’s floating around inside your head as something only girls do.
Men have been made to feel as though they don’t get to experience emotions, they aren’t allowed to let them show. But that’s a load of poppycock. You aren’t made any less of man just because you have shown people that you too are human and experience emotions, worries and troubles just like everyone else.
There is still massive amounts of terrible stigma surrounded men, surrounding people with mental health and those who are suicidal, that World Suicide Prevention Day hopes to help over come.
It’s Okay Not To Be Okay
It’s okay to speak up and out
It’s okay to struggle
It’s okay to feel lost, helpless, alone, sad, angry
and it’s okay to tell someone about how you feel
As long as you fight back, as long as you speak up, as long as you don’t let those emotions and thoughts overwhelm you into a situation that can never been reverse, can never be undone.
According to Samaritans Suicide Stats Report from December 2019:
There were 6,859 suicides in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
• 6,507 suicides were registered in the UK and 352
occurred in the Republic of Ireland.
• The suicide rate in Northern Ireland is the highest in the UK –
where men aged 25-29 have the highest suicide rate.
• The highest suicide rate in the UK, and England, is among men aged 45-49.
• The highest suicide rate in Wales is among men aged 40-44.
• The highest suicide rate in the Republic of Ireland is among men aged 55-64.
• The highest rate in Scotland is among men aged 35-44.
• There has been a significant increase in suicide in
the UK, the first time since 2013 – this appears to be
driven by an increase in the male suicide rate.
• In the UK, suicide rates among young people have been
increasing in recent years. The suicide rate for young
females is now at its highest rate on record.
• In the UK men remain three times more likely to take their own lives
than women, and in the Republic of Ireland four times more likely.
• Suicide has continued to fall in both males and
females in the Republic of Ireland.
If you want to find out more about the suicide stats report then head over to the Samaritans Website: Samaritans.org or click her to head directly to their stats report simply CLICK HERE.
If you or anyone you know is struggling right now then please reach out to someone, a friend, an internet friend, a family member, even a stranger. If you feel comfortable enough you can feel free to reach out to me, all conversations with me are private and confidential. I can offer advice, a listening ear and friendship.
Every life we lose to suicide is a tragedy, one we all have hopes in preventing.
Or you can check out these incredible websites that dedicate their time and resources to helping those who need it:
or Call 116 123
Email jo@samaritans.org
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – for men
Call 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
Visit the webchat page
Papyrus – for people under 35
Call 0800 068 41 41 – Monday to Friday 9am to 10pm, weekends and bank holidays 2pm to 10pm
Text 07860 039967
Email pat@papyrus-uk.org
Childline – for children and young people under 19
Call 0800 1111 – the number will not show up on your phone bill
Contact your local GP.
or you can call 111 out of hours – they will help you find the support and help you need
Just know you aren’t alone, you aren’t the only one who has had these feelings and there are people out there who would be devastated and broken should anything happen to you. Even when it doesn’t feel like anyone cares, life is complicated and we get caught up in the moments and that means sometimes we let things and people slide. We have to remind ourselves that that doesn’t me we aren’t cared for, that they only want our time and attention when it suits them but simply that life has directed them away and then back to you again.
Everyone has a time and place in your life, if you are finding yourself lonely then perhaps that’s life’s way of trying to direct you into looking after yourself, paying attention to yourself, start a new journey that only you can take or learning to accept and love yourself. There is a different perspective to every single situation the challenging part is trying to change our own perspectives to get a more positive out look.
You must be logged in to post a comment.