Don’t be afraid of the word ‘suicide’

FROM the outside, everything seemed to be going well for edward Mallen. The 18-year-old, a gifted musician, had a place to read Geography at Cambridge University.

But he’d been suffering from depression and in February, 2015, he took his own life.

Standing beside the coffin at his funeral, his father Steve made a promise that he would do something to tackle the appalling, tragic rates of suicide. And so he has.

As he told Good Health earlier this week, he is now leading efforts to help suicidal people with a campaign called Zero Suicide. The scheme involves providing suicide prevention training in schools, workplaces and hospitals, as well as raft of recommendations for policy changes that would mean suicidal people receiving better mental health support.

The campaign has also produced a training video that explains what to say to someone — a relative, friend, colleague for example — if you’re worried about them. It encourages people to ask the question: Are you thinking about suicide?

I would question whether zero suicides is really achievable — not everyone who kills themselves has a mental illness, for example. Some have a terminal or incurable illness or are severe disabled and decide they no longer want to live. But over all, the message from the campaign is a vitally important one: It’s good to talk about suicide.

There is a dangerous myth that perpetuates about suicide that, if you talk about it to someone who is desperate or depressed, then they’re more likely to kill themselves. This is categorically untrue.

Countless pieces of research have shown the exact opposite — asking about suicide and talking about it actually reduces the risk of someone doing it. It’s such an important message and one that can save lives.