‘You can’t just tell a suicidal person to come back on Monday because you’re too busy’
CRUSHED BY GRIEF FOLLOWING HER FATHER’S DEATH, JESSICA GALLIER SET OUT TO STOP OTHER PEOPLE REACHING THE POINT WHERE THEY WANT TO TAKE THEIR OWN LIFE
Jessica Gallier will never forget the moment she was told her father Martin had tried to take his own life.
“I remember vividly the moment I heard the news about Dad,” says the 30-year-old, who lives in Wirral, Merseyside. “It was February 7, 2017 and my baby, Leo, was 12 weeks old. I had that top-of-the-world, new-mum euphoria where you just feel untouchable.
“I was having lunch with friends when my phone rang. I saw it was my sister and just felt in my gut that something was very wrong. When she said Dad had attempted suicide I just fell to the floor. I knew in that moment things would never, ever be the same again.”
Jessica rushed to Bristol, where her father was on life support. “It was really surreal,” she recalls. “I remember saying to the doctors, ‘ What do we do? What’s the plan?’ I was in total denial about the fact his brain activity was gone.”
MISSED CHANCES
“Dad hadn’t even had the chance to meet Leo yet, so I asked if I could bring him in. Because it was intensive care they said it could only be for one minute.
“I couldn’t quite believe this was really happening to me and my little family. It was as if we were watching it on TV, happening to someone else. Dad slipped away just after midnight. He was only 55.
At that moment, Jessica thought that the worst was over. “But it felt worse as everything came to light – the questions and the guilt. We knew the services that should have supported Dad just hadn’t done so, even when asked.”
Once she discovered that opportunities to save her father’s life had been missed, Jessica decided she wanted to help save others who found themselves in the depths of despair. “I had to rebuild myself, and I had this light bulb moment where I thought, ‘Maybe I’m supposed to do something with this – to take all that stuff I’ve had to learn and know, and do some good with it.’” And she did.
Two years after her father’s death,
in February 2019, Jessica launched The Martin Gallier Project – the only suicide intervention, prevention and postvention service in the North West of England – with help from National Lottery funding. It is one of thousands of organisations that have benefited from £1billion raised by National Lottery players to help people across the
UK during these unprecedented times.
“National Lottery funding was our very first grant when we launched,” says Jessica, “and once Covid hit and we saw a sharp rise in calls, we used emergency National Lottery funding to hire the staff required to operate without a waiting list. You can’t tell a suicidal person to come back on Monday because you’re busy.”
In the past 12 months, The Martin Gallier Project has prevented 2,554 people from dying by suicide – an increase from 400 the previous year. “The pandemic has been very tough for so many people,” says Jess. “I remember one young man who was actively considering suicide but thankfully sought us out during lockdown. His relationship had broken down, leaving him without access to his kids, and his debts meant he couldn’t even buy food.
“He spoke with our suicide intervention workers, allowed us to reach out for support from a trusted family member, and we arranged food parcels and found financial support. Our experts help him navigate his relationship breakdown and facilitated access to his children. Slowly, he began to see there was hope. Last time we saw him he said how grateful he was that we kept him safe.
“I have these little moments of clarity where I think about the fact over 2,500 people can say, ‘I am alive today because of The Martin Gallier Project.’ What an honour to do work like that. It’s an incredible feeling.”
The pandemic has been very tough for so many people
JESSICA GALLIER