Thursday is World Suicide Prevention Day. We look at the stories behind the statistics
PIPS provides counselling and befriending support to individuals who are experiencing or have experienced suicidal thoughts or mental unwellness. It also provides support to families and friends who have been touched by suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day is an important opportunity to talk about suicide, but we also need to talk about what we are actually doing in this country to prevent it on the other 364 days.
This day puts suicide in the spotlight for one day. But for the people struggling, the families worried about someone they love, and the services responding to people in crisis, suicide prevention is a 365 day reality. The real question is whether we are doing enough to prevent more lives being lost.
The latest figures show 290 registered deaths by suicide in 2024, a 31 per cent increase on previous year. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a family and a community living with that loss.
At PIPS Suicide Prevention Charity, we see the reality behind those figures every single day. People come through our doors when they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, emotional distress or simply feel they cannot cope any longer. Families also contact us because they are worried about someone they love and don't know where to turn.
Our role is to respond when people need us. We provide crisis intervention, counselling and support, giving people a place to come before their situation reaches the point of an emergency department, an ambulance or police involvement. That is why the delivery of the Mental Health Strategy matters so much.
What we need now is to see it translated into accessible services on the ground with proper investment in crisis intervention.
More than 8,000 members of the public have backed our Too Many Lives Lost petition, calling for the Mental Health Strategy to be fully funded and delivered. That support shows just how strongly people here feel about the need for change and for action to follow without further delay. Sign here: https://www.change.org/p/too-many-lives-lost-to-suicide-stand-with-pips-charity-demand-change
Community based crisis services such as PIPS Charity should not be viewed as sitting on the edge of the mental health system. People in crisis are already coming through our doors. We need the resources, recognition and joined up working to respond properly to that need.
Our message to the public is simple: If you are struggling, please don't struggle alone. Reach out. Talk to someone you trust, contact PIPS Charity or other support services, and if you are worried about someone, ask them how they are and stay with the conversation. You do not need to be an expert to show someone that they matter.
And our message to our government is equally clear: Deliver the Mental Health Strategy and put crisis and suicide prevention services at the heart of that delivery, because we deserve better.
World Suicide Prevention Day must be more than a date in the calendar. Let it be the point where we stop talking about what we could do and start delivering what we know works and needs to be done.”
For more visit https://pipscharity.com
