We are delighted to announce that Hilary Rawles, one of our most experienced team members, has been named “most inspiring woman in the charitable sector” in the south west for 2019 by regional newspapers. She won the award for her work which was described as “life-saving and far beyond the call of duty”:
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/top-women-in-south-west-2879551
Joy, our founder and CEO, was a guest on BBC TV’s Victoria Derbyshire show on 22nd January, commenting on the newly published cross-government suicide prevention workplan. Details of the interview will be in our newsletter next month.
The founder of Suicide Crisis, Joy Hibbins, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Year Honours list 2019, for services to vulnerable people. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3177786
Prior to this, in November, she was awarded the Janey Antoniou Award “for an outstanding contribution to addressing stigma and improving the lives of people affected by mental illness”.
Our thanks to Sky News for interviewing Joy about the new book “Suicide Prevention Techniques: How A Suicide Crisis Service Saves Lives” on 24th December. The live interview on their breakfast programme focused on the book at a time when high numbers of people are accessing our services and at a time when many people are in crisis – the difficult Christmas period.
The book “Suicide Prevention Techniques; How A Suicide Crisis Service Saves Lives” was written by our founder and CEO Joy Hibbins to explain in more detail than ever before the reasons why all clients under our care have survived. She explains our methods, approach and ethos and what we are doing that’s different from other crisis services. The book was published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Hachette UK) this month. It is available through most booksellers including Amazon. The author’s royalties are being paid by the publisher directly to our charity, so every copy sold raised money for our Suicide Crisis Centre. Here’s the link to the book: https://www.jkp.com/uk/suicide-prevention-techniques-2.html
This month we were invited to attend a consultative group meeting at the Ministry of Justice focusing on legal aid reform. This was in relation to evidence which we provided from our research into deaths by suicide in Gloucestershire. We have been asked to provide further information since the meeting, and our full report “Research Into Deaths By Suicide In Gloucestershire” is being shared with colleagues at the Ministry Of Justice who are working on other aspects of reform within the inquest system / coroner’s court.
This article written by our CEO in The Independent continues to be shared. She explains, from her own experience of having been sectioned, why women are at particular risk of suicide while detained in psychiatric hospital.
“A high proportion of these women may have experienced traumatic events involving physical assault or some other loss of power or control. That hospital staff understand this is a matter of life and death.”
Joy, our CEO, was a guest on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show on Wednesday 10th October, talking about trauma, suicide and the work of our Suicide Crisis Centre. Her interview is right at the beginning of the programme, starting at 08.57:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000rtw
Joy, our CEO, and Katharine, CEO of Agenda, were guests on the BBC Radio 4 programme “Woman’s Hour” on 22nd August, talking about the new CQC figures which show that more women than men are dying by suicide while detained under the Mental Health Act. Joy spoke about the impact of sectioning on traumatised women and what might help reduce the risk of re-traumatisation when a person is under section.
She was also interviewed about our Suicide Crisis Centres and how our services differ from those of mental health services. She was asked to explain in particular how we work with people who have experienced trauma.
Her interview starts at around 11 or 12 minutes into the programme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bfx5dk
Her interview was also in the weekend edition of Woman’s Hour which features highlights from the previous week’s programmes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bfx639
This article, published in The Independent this weekend, explains how we respond to emergencies during a 24 hour period at our Suicide Crisis Centre, at a time when a heatwave brings increased numbers of clients, and staff shortages within mental health services create an even greater need for our services:-