Friday 10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day. An annual event to raise awareness of how we can create a world where fewer people die by suicide.
‘Creating hope through action’ is the theme of this year's World Suicide Prevention Day.
Globally, an estimated 703,000 people die by suicide each year and the suicide rate is over twice as high among men than women*.
To create hope through action, people are being asked to go to the Now We’re Talking website to get lots of hints and tips to help talk to someone. That conversation may just save someone’s life. The Now We’re Talking website has lots of resources including advice to get you through a crisis, conversation starters for talking about suicide, step by step guides to help someone in crisis and advice for self-care when supporting someone.
You can also find free suicide awareness training from the Zero Suicide Alliance from this website too. It takes just twenty minutes to complete.
Councillor Felicity Norman, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said:
“My own sister took her own life a few years ago and the impact on family and friends was and still is devastating. Support is out there for everyone and we all have a responsibility to ‘create hope through action’ if the opportunity arises.
“By visiting the Now We’re Talking website, you can learn some simple strategies and techniques which may help yourself and other people.
“Suicide is preventable, and by taking small actions or by talking to someone, lives can be saved.”
To remember a lost loved one, show your support for the survivors of suicide and those bereaved by suicide, you can also light a candle near a window at 8pm on Friday 10 September.
If you feel overloaded, you don’t have to struggle alone, just call the Herefordshire & Worcestershire 24-hour urgent mental health helpline free on 0808 196 9127. Someone is there to listen to you and calls are free and confidential.