I’ve saved more than 1,000 people since I tried to take my own life

HONOUR FOR TEACHER WHO FOUNDED CHARITY

A WOMAN who twice tried to take her life has gone on to save more than 1,000 other people on the brink of suicide.

Former English teacher Joy Hibbins has just been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours list for services to vulnerable people.

And today she tells how it was her own desperate experiences when her life hit “absolute rock bottom” that inspired her to set up a charity seven years ago.

Suicide Crisis is now in such demand that it runs two centres and has a 25-strong team of health professionals offering their services as volunteers.

It prides itself on an impressive “zero suicide” record, under which not a single person it has helped has later gone on to kill themselves.

And it has helped around another 500 people who may not have been suicidal but still needed someone to turn to.

Joy, originally from Gloucester, set out to turn her life around after suicide attempts left her feeling there was no help out there for her.

She had been a full-time carer for her mum Joyce, who had Parkinson’s disease. In 2012 Joyce died. A few days later Joy had a “traumatic experience” which she still cannot talk about.

She does not even remember her first suicide attempt, only waking up in Gloucester Royal Hospital where she was treated and discharged.

Within a few days she tried to take her life again, was taken back to hospital and sectioned to protect her.

Barriers

Joy said: “I was suffering from acute PTSD, constantly reliving those experiences. I was told I’d have to wait at least eight months for any therapy.

“I basically felt deserted with no hope and that the only way to escape my torment was to end my life.

“It was then that I knew I had to change the system for crisis care, which gave me a positive focus to stay alive and help others where I’d been let down.

“I knew that kindness and care for patients with acute mental health problems within a professional context was what was needed, so I spent the next few months planning my charity.”

Joy, who lives in Cheltenham, attended a series of mental health training courses as well as recruiting a team of psychiatric professionals.

She recalled: “I came up against so many barriers and so much scepticism that I was equipped to set this up.

“But the more I was knocked down the more determined I became to turn my vision into a reality.”

In December 2012 Suicide Crisis was given official charity status and in March 2013 a trauma centre opened, offering early intervention to people who had been through bad experiences.

The following

October a crisis centre opened for those actively thinking of killing themselves.

And with eight health professionals providing support the centres, both in

Cheltenham, got inundated with requests for help.

Joy said: “There’s evidently a massive need for more support services like ours as we get calls from all over the country.

“I recall one man who hit crisis point after a break-up with his wife. I found him in his bedroom with a weapon directed at himself. It was only because of the trust we’d developed and my calm approach that he accepted the emergency services needed t o be called and his life was saved.”

Another man who split from his wife told Joy he felt like “all the lids on his boxes were blown off”. She said: “He phoned in the early hours, not knowing where he was. I talked to him for hours until we found him on the side of a road.”

Last year the Suicide Crisis Centre was described by t he Government as an example ple of “best practice”.

The charity, which relies s entirely on grants and donations, has been asked to present its strategy and findings to MPS. Its logo, designed d free by a PR firm, suggests sts hands reaching out for help and finding it.

Joy has also written a book k on i its work k after being approached by a publisher who had seen newspaper articles.

She said: “I wanted to explain in great detail why all clients under our care have survived. The zero suicide record was never an ambition or goal, it’s a combination of complex factors.” On being recognised in the New Year Year’s s Hono Honours, she added: “I’m incredi incredibly moved and very grate grateful, but it’s as much for tho those people supporting th the charity as me.

“We regularly get contacted by patients we’ve helped saying how they can’t thank us e enough for giving their li lives meaning where be before they had none.”

Joy’s bo book, Suicide Prevention Techniques: How a suicide crisis service saves lives (Jessica Kingsley) costs £16.99. All profits to the Suicide Crisis Centre. More info from www.suicidecrisis.co.uk.