Local volunteers active in World Suicide Prevention Day | The local branch of Samaritans is actively involved in campaigning to raise awareness of suicide all year round and especially this week.
Each year on 10th September organisations and communities around the world come together for World Suicide Prevention Day.
“We want to raise awareness of how we can create a world where fewer people die by suicide,” said Chris Lindsay, director of Samaritans of Bracknell, Wokingham, Ascot & Districts.
“In 2017, in the UK and Ireland alone, more than 6,000 people died of suicide. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy. And we know that suicide is preventable, it’s not inevitable.”
On Tuesday, local Samaritans’ volunteers from Bracknell and Reading branches attended the Berkshire suicide prevention group meeting at Reading to discuss current activities which include the Berkshire Bereaved by Suicide pilot launched in May and plans for the Thames Valley Suicide prevention conference.
This conference is taking place on Thursday, 10th October which is World Mental Health Day. This year the Berkshire organisations and authorities are focusing on suicide prevention. They will be looking at key topics such as media and reporting, coroners and inquests, debt and council tax arrears and loneliness support among all age groups. The local Samaritans’ branch is involved.
Samaritans of Bracknell, Wokingham, Ascot and districts is based at Larges Lane, Bracknell and can be located here:
- Samaritans is available round the clock, every day of the year. The charity provides a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them. Call 116 123 (free to call) (UK), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find further details.
Samaritans of Bracknell, Wokingham, Ascot & Districts | 2 Mount Pleasant, Larges Lane, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 9AD