Our Presentation To The National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group

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The Government’s adviser on suicide, Louis Appleby, approached us a few weeks ago to ask us to give a presentation about our work to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group, which he chairs. We did so on Tuesday. We explained about our ethos and approach, the way our services run, how we have achieved zero suicide at our Crisis Centre, and why a high proportion of our clients are men.

Sky News Focuses On Our Suicide Crisis Centre

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Huge thanks to Sky News for featuring our Suicide Crisis Centre in news bulletins throughout the day on World Suicide Prevention Day.

Our thanks in particular to Adele who interviewed Joy and one of our male clients in such a sensitive way, and to Mostyn who filmed the piece in a way that ensured that our client’s identity was not revealed.

“There is a gaping hole in crisis care provision……We need Suicide Crisis Centres across the country.”

Calls For More Crisis Centres As Suicide Rates Soar

http://news.sky.com/story/call-for-more-crisis-centres-as-suicide-rates-soar-10571855

Our Suicide Crisis Centre in The Independent and “i” newspapers

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Our thanks to The Independent and the “i” newspapers for their articles about our Suicide Crisis Centre last week which explain some of the ways in which we differ from other organisations and why those differences have helped ensure that our clients survive.
The link to The Independent article is below and we’ve included a scan of the “i” newspaper piece:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/after-a-bad-experience-with-mental-health-services-i-set-up-my-own-suicide-crisis-centre-and-i-a7159721.html
joy for the i cropped

Please Don’t Call Us ‘Difficult To Engage’

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Joy has written a piece for the Huffington Post about people who psychiatric services sometimes describe as “difficult to engage”. She explains that we need to understand why people aren’t engaging. Services have a responsibility to help people to connect with them and there are implications for a person’s suicide risk if they don’t. The link to the Huffington Post piece is below:-

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/../../joy-hibbins/please-dont-call-us-diffi_b_10988746.html

Daily Express article about our Suicide Crisis Centre

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Thank you very much indeed to Martin Barrow and the Daily Express for this article about our work. It is really helpful in explaining how we work, and it reflects very well our ethos. Martin includes in his article a particular case where a client was at imminent risk and he explains how we helped in that situation. The article refers to our zero suicide achievement and the number of men who access our services.

The link to the article is here:-

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/675334/Joy-Hibbins-charity-lifeline-suicide

“Suicide Crisis, I owe you my life”

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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.
SC Article page 1 May 2016SC Article part 2 May 2016SC Article part 3 May 2016
Luciana Al Echo article

Raising Awareness Of Our Work Across The South-West

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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.

National Lead On Suicide Prevention

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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”.