World Suicide Prevention Day - beat the stigma, help men talk about suicide.

It focuses on enabling men to feel comfortable enough to open up about their mental health experiences, and encourages others to ask openly and directly about suicide if they are worried that someone may be at risk.

Suicide remains the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK and this phase features words, feelings and observations of men who have experienced mental health issues, addressing the barriers to male conversations.

The STOP Suicide 2020 campaign aims to raise awareness that suicide can be prevented, it is everybody’s business and we need to talk directly about suicide.

The campaign is led by Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind (CPSL Mind) in partnership with Local Authorities and local NHS as part of the county-wide suicide prevention strategy, together with almost 3,000 individual and over 100 organisational STOP Suicide pledgees.

It was launched this morning at an event co-hosted by community project Shedders & Fixers which is supporting this year’s campaign, at its project in Wisbech. Among those attending were men from the community project, charity staff, and Stu and Rish who feature in the publicity focussed on male conversation around the issue of suicide.

The campaign openly challenges the myths around talking directly about suicide. In doing so, it has gained support from actors, writers and mental health campaigners, such as Stephen Fry, Benjamin Zephaniah and Johnny Benjamin among others who have pledged their support.

Isabel Cross, Head of Campaigns at CPSL Mind says: “Men are three times as likely to take their own life and middle-aged men particularly have consistently faced higher suicide rates than other age groups. In general, men may have fewer meaningful connections than women and their social networks can be less supportive. It could also be that this group is less inclined to seek help so it’s more important than ever that we encourage conversation to break the stigma.”

The taboo around suicide means that individuals at risk are themselves often fearful about sharing how they are feeling, so being asked directly about suicidal thoughts can be a massive relief

Rishal Patel has lived through such experiences and says “The ideas are that if we were to talk about it, it would make it worse or people would judge and I would do something. Whereas I wanted them to talk, I wanted them to listen, I wanted them to engage in conversation because I was isolated, but it was more isolating to not even touch the subject”.

Isabel adds: “Seventy per cent of people who die by suicide have not been in contact with mental health services in the year before their death, it’s more likely that a friend, relative, neighbour or colleague – rather than a mental health professional – will be in the best position to spot the warning signs in those at risk, help them by talking openly about suicide, listen to their story and direct them to the help they need.

“Providing members of the public with the skills and confidence to have open conversations about suicide will help those at risk to stay safe.”

Individuals and organisations can support the campaign by signing the STOP Suicide pledge at: www.stopsuicidepledge.org/pledge/ and sharing their commitment on social media using the hashtags #IdAsk and #STOPSuicide