Suicide prevention, everyone has a stake

[crosswind]

Suicide prevention is more than just a health issue and having a society that reaches out to those in a position of ultimate despair is surely a necesity in this modern age. The causes of a person deciding to end their own life can be many and often times unknown. There are clues and general trends which aren't fully clear as yet (and need to be comprehensively researched) but factors like mental health difficulties, alcohol abuse (frequently alcohol is found in the system of a person at time of death), homelessness, recent loss can all be seen as increasing risk. The effectiveness of efforts will depend a lot on the level of research into issues surrounding suicide and the accuracy of suicide statistics.

The history of all pervasive stigma surrounding suicide kept the issue swept under the carpet and kept people's suffering silent until relatively recently and may still have an affect on the culture of our society. The only thing we need to keep of that Age is that people don't see ending their lives as an option. For many, in a moment of despair, perhaps all they need to know is that there is somewhere they can go to receive help and no matter how bad things get that they remember 'this too shall pass'. In theory, there may always be a certain number of people who cannot be reached but surely we owe it to ourselves to try to make a difference. So many families are affected and it can be so hard to predict 'who next?', that we really do owe it to ourselves, our families and our communities.

The government is making positive moves and need continued motivation to move forward but they alone cannot fix this. Each individual and community needs to see this as a problem that can be faced up to successfully and not just something we should ignore and sweep under the carpet.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0908/suicide.html
"The Government has published a ten-year strategy to try to reduce the suicide rate in Ireland.
The strategy will target specific groups such as young men, prisoners and the unemployed. As part of the initiative, a National Office for Suicide Prevention is to be established.
Almost 500 people take their own lives in Ireland each year, and a further 11,000 cases of deliberate self-harm are treated in hospitals."

[Vietato]

When a mother drowned herself and her 2 kids in Wexford recently one
of the issues raised was that counselling operates on an office hours basis which is probably when its least required