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According to the Samaritans:

 

  • There are more than 6,000 suicides in the UK each year.
  • It is the biggest killer of men under 50, and the biggest killer of young people aged 20-34. But it is not inevitable.
  • Suicide kills three times more people than road traffic accidents.

Action has been taken on road deaths since the sixties. We need to be giving suicide the same priority. In the ME community we are aware of the added pressures that our illness places on people and the difficulty the health and social care services often have in recognising the difference between depression and ME, or that both can co-exist. So help for mental distress can be difficult to access.

Samaritans has recently launched its first ever political campaign – Local Action Saves Lives.

local-action-campaign-logoLocal councils in England and Wales have a responsibility to prevent suicide.

They need to work with health services, community groups, charities and others to make this happen.

The Government has told councils that they should all have plans in place to prevent suicide by 2017. But the best available information indicates that a third of councils have no plan in place at all, and those councils who do have plans may not be doing everything they could be.

Local Action Saves Lives is Samaritans’ campaign for all councils to put in place effective suicide prevention plans. Because without a proper plan involving local organisations, suicide prevention work is much less effective than it could be.

The are asking everyone who cares about preventing suicide to step up and ask for action in their community, by emailing their local politicians.

To join the campaign, you just need to enter your contact details on their website and they’ll tell you who your councillors are and provide suggested text. Then you can send the email directly from their site.

Website: http://www.samaritans.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/samaritanscharity

Twitter: www.twitter.com/samaritans

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