We can all make a difference together in 2021
Rose Fitzpatrick, the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group’s chair, looks back on a challenging 2020, and ahead with optimism to the new year ahead.
Well, 2020 has been quite a year, hasn’t it? For all of us, whether we’ve been affected by Covid illness or spared that awful experience but had to respond to its many other challenges.
What has really struck me this year is how so many people have come together to support each other in this crisis, from clapping for the NHS, to volunteering in local communities.
It’s also been heartening to see people from so many walks of life talking openly about the importance of focusing on mental health and wellbeing.
It’s too early yet to say whether the pandemic is going to have an impact on suicide rates, but numbers have started to increase in recent years both here and in other countries. The pandemic is impacting on people’s mental health and life circumstances. But we must not accept that any loss of life to suicide is inevitable.
That’s because there are things we can all do to help in 2021. As Scotland’s National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) we’ll be launching pilot schemes in the spring to support people who have been bereaved by suicide. We’re also working with the Scottish Government and COSLA to develop a long-term suicide prevention strategy.
But we also believe that everyone has a role to play in supporting those at risk of suicide.
As family members, neighbours and colleagues we can all help by looking out for each other, learning to recognise the signs of distress or defeat, and having confidence in offering our help to people around us who need it.
When we launched our new movement, United to Prevent Suicide, in September we spoke about the importance of talking about suicide and encouraging people to feel confident both to ask for help and to give it.
I know people will worry that by asking someone if they’ve been thinking of taking their own life we might put that idea into their head, but research with people who have lived experience tells us otherwise.
People who have attempted to take their own life or felt suicidal say that they have experienced tremendous relief when someone has recognised how they’re feeling. By asking them directly about suicide, that person has given them the opportunity to talk about it, and the possibility to get the help they need.
In that bleak moment when your family member, neighbour or colleague perhaps can’t see any other way through, your kindness in reaching out and encouraging them to talk could save their life.
Over 2,000 people have already signed up to United to Prevent Suicide because they want to know how they can help. If you want to make a difference, please sign up too at www.unitedtopreventsuicide.org.uk where you’ll find practical tools to help you start the conversation that could save a life.
We’ve come a long way through the challenges of 2020 and we are all hoping for a brighter New Year. In 2021 you could be the one to save a life.
