Thank you so much to Gloucester’s main newspaper, the Gloucester Citizen, for their two-page feature about one of our clients: “Suicide Crisis saved my life”. This was to mark our third anniversary of providing services. We are extremely grateful to our client for doing this interview and for speaking so openly about the circumstances which led to his contacting us. On the morning of our third anniversary he also sent us a very poignant email:-
“Suicide Crisis, I owe you my life. You never let go of my hand and are only an arm’s length away to re-hold it whenever I need you.”
Our thanks also to the newspaper for Cheltenham, the Gloucestershire Echo, for their two-page feature on Tuesday.

In 2015 we gave a presentation to the steering group and reference group of the South West Zero Suicide Collaborative (SWZSC), one of 3 pilot schemes for the Government’s zero suicide initiative. They described our work as “inspirational” and “extraordinary”. Last month we were asked by the SWZSC to give a presentation at a Learning Event in Exeter to an audience of clinicians, psychiatrists, police officers, professionals and individuals from across the South West of England.

Thank you to Adrian James (the psychiatrist who leads the South West Zero Suicide Collaborative) for drawing attention to this quote from one of our former clients on social media in which he describes:-

“how you get behind a client and hold them so they don’t fall. You remain in my pocket for life, supporting, guiding and aiding my recovery. Still here, thanks to the Suicide Crisis Centre.”

We love the idea that we remain with the client even after they have left and that our care continues to sustain them. The connection with us remains. Adrian James particularly liked the image which the client used and the idea of his “keeping us in his pocket”.

We had an extremely high proportion of male clients last month, far outnumbering the female clients who came to us. We explained in our presentations in both London and Exeter why we think so many men are accessing our services. We are very glad that they have felt able to access our services.

In November the National Lead on Suicide Prevention for Public Health England (Helen Garnham) visited our Suicide Crisis Centre. As a result, she asked us to give a presentation at an event in London this month for Public Health Leads, psychiatrists and other professionals involved in suicide prevention nationally.

At the event Helen described her visit to our Crisis Centre as “inspiring”.

In a subsequent thank you email to us last week she described our presentation in London as “really inspirational”. We are extremely grateful to Helen for this. Thanks also to Gregor Henderson, the National Lead on Mental Health at Public Health England for his email thanking us for our “inspiring presentation” about our “excellent service”.

Thank you so much to the Gloucestershire Echo for their coverage of Luciana Berger’s visit to our Suicide Crisis Centre this month.
The link to the article is below:-
http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Shadow-mental-health-minister-Luciana-Berger/story-28489597-detail/story.html

Thank you very much to Luciana Berger, the Shadow Minister for Mental Health, who visited our Suicide Crisis Centre yesterday, the 7th January 2016. In the interview that she gave to BBC Radio Gloucestershire about our Crisis Centre, she said:-

“I think it reflects incredibly well on this service in particular that for every person who has come through their door, no one has gone on to take their own life.That’s particularly significant and so it’s very clear that this service is needed. I just hope that as many people that need this service are able to access this or know about it. This is essentially a charity that’s providing this service for free and isn’t being funded by anyone.”

And a massive thank you to one of our male clients who was also interviewed for the radio programme, and who commented:-

“If this service hadn’t have existed, I know I wouldn’t still be here. It’s as simple as that.”

Thank you to Sybil Ruscoe, the presenter, who commented that our charity “has been described as one of the most pioneering and inspirational charities working in the mental health field”.

The interview with Luciana Berger and our client is at 01.43 in the radio programme and the link to it is below:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cm1kh

Special thanks for everyone who has been working at our Suicide Crisis Centre and our Trauma Centre over the Christmas period. We have had a large number of emergency situations in recent days where we have also needed to involve 999 emergency teams (police and ambulance) and are very relieved that all clients are okay. As well as emergencies, our regular appointments and services have continued as usual all over Christmas, too. Here’s some of our fab team who have contributed so much this Christmas: Justin, Kallika and Janie.

We are massively grateful to the Gloucester Citizen today for their two-page feature on the background to the setting up of the charity and reasons for it, including the founder’s own suicidal crisis in 2012. In the print version they also feature the book and some well-chosen excerpts from it.

The link to the shorter online version of the article is below:-
http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Big-Interview-Joy-bring-hope-dire-need/story-27953531-detail/story.html

Thank you very much to the Gloucestershire Echo for this article, which highlights the huge increase in the number of clients accessing our services over the weekend, the number of high risk situations, and the fact that we are now responding to calls from all over the country. Our work is about face to face crisis support for people in Gloucestershire. The ever-increasing number of calls from people, from all parts of the country, shows that similar Suicide Crisis Centres are needed all over the UK.

The link to the article is below:-
http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Gloucestershire-suicide-crisis-charity-report/story-26897113-detail/story.html

We had a very interesting meeting in London last week with Louis Appleby, who is the Government’s adviser on suicide. He was very prepared to go into some difficult areas of discussion with us, and responded very openly and honestly. We also spoke about the Government’s zero suicide initiative, which we interpret as doing all that we can, for each person, to help them to survive. We felt that he genuinely understood what it is like to be at the point of suicide, and also understood what is helpful – and not helpful – at that point.

We were invited to give a presentation to the reference group and steering committee of the South West Zero Suicide initiative in February. The South West is one of three regions where the Government’s Zero Suicide is being piloted.  We would like to thank them for the extremely warm welcome that they gave us. They described the presentation that we gave them, about our work, as “inspirational” and described what we are doing as “extraordinary”.

In 2012 there was scepticism that a recent survivor of suicidal crisis could set up a Suicide Crisis Centre.  That experience of suicidal crisis should be seen as a strength of the charity, and not a weakness. Our clients know that this charity works. Our client feedback has always been excellent, and that is what has mattered to us. But this reaction from the SW Zero Suicide initiative meant a lot, and we are very grateful.