Going Beyond The Campaign.

Do you know how many lives the 25 push-up challenge has saved from suicide?

ZERO

Shocking statistic isn’t it considering the number of people getting involved with this challenge.

While I truly appreciate everybody’s effort and admire people want to play a part in raising awareness of this still very taboo subject, let me ask you this...

If somebody you knew told you they were thinking about taking their life by suicide would you drop and give them 25 press-ups or would you panic?

Be honest with me here

The chances are you would panic

I know you would

That’s a very natural response, and a response most people on my courses tell me, that and thinking they may say something wrong and wouldn’t want to ‘push a person over the edge’.

You may phone 999, or call as many people as you know to ask for advice

This is all very normal.

Now, this next part may not sit well with some of you, not all emergency services or the police are highly trained in suicide first aid, and neither or mental health practitioners. G.P’s, doctors, nurses, or carers, I know this for a FACT as many sit on my Suicide first aid courses.

The reason they sit on the courses is they know they aren’t trained in suicide prevention, it’s why they are there.

Raising awareness does little more than highlight a problem.

Don’t believe me?

• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death IN THE WORLD
• In 2018, there were 6,507 suicides registered in the UK, an age-standardised rate of 11.2 deaths per 100,000 population; the latest rate is significantly higher than that in 2017 and represents the first increase since 2013.
• Three-quarters of registered deaths in 2018 were among men (4,903 deaths), which has been the case since the mid-1990s.
• The UK male suicide rate of 17.2 deaths per 100,000 represents a significant increase from the rate in 2017; for females, the UK rate was 5.4 deaths per 100,000, consistent with the rates over the past 10 years.
• Scotland had the highest suicide rate in GB with 16.1 deaths per 100,000 persons (784 deaths), followed by Wales with a rate of 12.8 per 100,000 (349 deaths) and England the lowest with 10.3 deaths per 100,000 (5,021 deaths); figures for Northern Ireland will be published later this year by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
• Males aged 45 to 49 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate (27.1 deaths per 100,000 males); for females, the age group with the highest rate was also 45 to 49 years, at 9.2 deaths per 100,000.
• Despite having a low number of deaths overall, rates among the under 25s have generally increased in recent years, particularly 10 to 24-year-old females where the rate has increased significantly since 2012 to its highest level with 3.3 deaths per 100,000 females in 2018.
• As seen in previous years, the most common method of suicide in the UK was hanging, accounting for 59.4% of all suicides among males and 45.0% of all suicides among females.

The third leading cause of death in the world yet not a mention on MSM, if it were you would be notified every 40 seconds.

Yet suicide is one of the most preventable causes of death.

Did you know that according to research up to 75% of those who died by suicide indicate their intentions to others either directly or indirectly in the weeks before their death?

There are a range of warning signs that may suggest someone is at risk of suicide which is why it is important for people to be familiar with the warning signs

I know this, I was that person giving off signals, from putting my affairs in order, coming to peace with what I was about to do, irrational and erratic behaviour, self medications, the list goes on.

Only nobody picked up on those telltale signs.

Because they were not aware there were signs.

If you really want to make a difference and do more than pay lip service because it’s popular, educate yourself on how to save a life, because one day, knowing what you know now, you may just need to do that

For the next Virtual Suicide First Aid and Lite course click HERE to book on.

For corporate group bookings email me at [email protected]