Grieving mum blasts ‘heartless’ council over suicide post Comments branded‘insensitive’
A woman who lost her partner to suicide has slammed North Lanarkshire Council for their ‘lack of empathy’ after they were forced to apologise for a ‘heartless’ online post.
Last week, as part of their Suicide Prevention Campaign, the local authority posted a status on Facebook which said: “Suicidal thoughts are not an illness.”
And many users, including those who have lost loved ones to suicide, were outraged at how insensitive it had been.
The council post read: “Suicidal thoughts are not an illness.
“Everyone has an individual story and worries of their own. It’s personal to you, your background, your experiences and your history.
“Your strength and personality will get you through it. By telling and sharing your story you can help yourself and others.
“Never give up on yourself or those you care about.”
After the backlash they received online, the council issued an apology.
A spokesperson for Suicide Prevention North Lanarkshire said: “We apologise if our social media post about suicide prevention caused upset.
“This was certainly not the intention and we fully understand the sensitivities around this subject and that many people may experience mental ill health and suicidal thoughts at any point in their life.
“We are committed to offering support and advice through our suicide prevention campaign to anyone concerned about suicide or worried about someone with suicidal thoughts.”
Natalie Fraser lost her partner, Motherwell man Graham Fraser, after he took his own life last year. She helped set up anti-suicide charity WHY? The Graham Fraser Foundation, and was horrified at the council’s post and disappointed with the apology.
She said: “It’s a poor response. They haven’t really taken any responsibilty for it at all.
“As a charity now campaigning against suicide, we will be taking a wide berth from North Lanarkshire Council’s suicide prevention campaign if that is their outlook on it and would advise anyone else to do the same if that’s how they are tackling it.”
She added: “We’re extremely disappointed at how insensitive North Lanarkshire Council have been towards so many families that have lost loved ones due to mental health and mental illness.
“Depression is definitely an illness and their comments are disgraceful and someone must be held accountable for it.
“They mentioned in the post that their personality will get you through. Our Graham had the biggest personality and biggest smile in the room and would always be the most outgoing character person.
“So personality doesn’t always get you through when you have a mental illness or when you have depression. It is not NOT an illness.”
We’ll take a wide berth from NLC’S suicide prevention campaign