World Suicide Prevention Day, How Can You Help?

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, and for the UK this is becoming a more important issue, as suicide rates are now the highest they have been since 2001 for men.

Statistics have shown that in the UK we lose over 6,000 people ever year to suicide. That means on average 16 people a day are committing suicide, which is a figure that is way too high.

The number of men taking their own lives has raised dramatically in recent years, and is now the biggest killer of men under the age of 45. Men in the UK now account for three-quarters of all suicides.

So what can we do to start to help this delicate issue? Well there are all sorts of ways. First off and most simply, try and talk to the person in need. They may not always think this is what they need, but it really does help.

There are also loads of helplines open all hours of the day, these people have been trained in these issues and are there to help. You can call people like the Samaritans or PAPYRUS. There are all sorts of people out here who are there to help, you can find a lot of them through Mind, the mental health charity http://www.mind.org.uk/suicide

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