Let’s Talk About Suicide

Crikey, this is a tough blog post to write…
Today the news flooded on social media that Caroline Flack had died. The assumption is that she took her own life. Death by suicide is real, and we need to talk about it.

In my 15 plus years of working in mental health, I have known people who have died by suicide. I worked within a mental health centre, and when someone who used the centre ended their own life, it was so hard. It was hard because we grieved, hard because the choice to take your own life is so misunderstood.

Hard because, knowing someone closely die by suicide makes it an idea for more people to die in the same way.

Do you recall in 2007/2008 in Bridgend, Wales it was reported that there was a ‘suicide spate’? I worked in Bridgend during this time, and it was a difficult time. The media were highlighting the deaths in a way that almost glamourised taking your own life. Out of the 26 reported cases of people dying by suicide, only one was not a result of hanging. Most were people aged from 13 – 17, and some were linked as friends.

The common agreed consensus was that hearing that a peer had died by suicide, made death by suicide a possibility. People who had suicidal thoughts now knew of someone close to them, that had died by suicide. So if they can do it…This whole conversation is harrowing. There are 25 families and friendship groups grieving over the death of someone where the cause was suicide.

Suicide is selfish, yes. But think about someone’s state of mind for them to believe that the only way to resolve their life is to end it.

That moment, between thinking about acting on suicidal thoughts, and actually acting on it is a place I have never been to. Imagining the people I have known getting to that moment is beyond upsetting. Today, it’s been speculated that a famous, well loved 40 year old woman has taken her own life. She was in a legal dispute regarding an incident with her boyfriend. The press used her life and now her death to make money, social media bullied her.

I hope so much that out there today there aren’t any women around her age who are being bullied on social media who see this and relate to her.

If you are affected by death by suicide and need to talk there are so many agencies to get support. The Samaritans instantly springs to mind. https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

My DM’s are always open – I am training in ASIST training (applied suicide innervations training skills) so at that crossing over point, from thoughts of ending your own life to taking action on those thoughts I can help.

I am so sad, of course I didn’t know Caroline, and I know that she isn’t the only person who has (in speculation) taken their own lives this weekend. But her situation is so very sad, the possibility that the media and the general public drove a person to take their own life.