This year's World Mental Health Day on Thursday 10 October has a theme of suicide prevention. On Thursday, Yvonne McPartland, Deputy Head of the Staff Counselling Centre, will be delivering a session on suicide prevention for staff in Cambridge. The shocking reality is that suicide is the most common cause of death in men aged under 50 and the suicide rate is currently increasing after many years of decline. This equates to more than 6,000 deaths by suicide annually in the UK and Ireland.
The session is designed to give staff the confidence to challenge the taboo around suicide that makes it such a difficult subject to broach, with colleagues, family members, friends and even total strangers: what is it OK to say, what should I be looking for and what should I do next? The session will increase awareness around suicide, dispel some myths and share some lessons from experience at the Staff Counselling Centre. It will also remind staff what the centre can offer them. The message is that having a conversation could really save a life.