Lochaber Hope in plea to value people more

People need a reason to feel proud of where they live and who they are if the consistently higher rate of deaths by suicide in the NHS Highland area is to be tackled.

Lochaber Hope manager Alyson Smith’s comments come following publication of a report by NHS Highland’s director of public health Dr Tim Allison that called for a greater focus on improving mental health and wellbeing and reducing suicide rates across Highland.

In his second annual report to the NHS Highland board, Dr Allison highlighted there is a consistently higher rate of deaths by suicide in the NHS Highland area than the Scottish average.

Dr Allison believes a public health approach to reduce deaths by suicide and improve mental health and wellbeing is important, and widely regarded as the best way to achieve sustained reductions in suicide rates.

Dr Allison said: ‘More work is required to understand why this is the case and we must plan and develop our work to reduce the number of deaths from suicide within a broader mental health context that will inform local plans and strategies.

‘A public health approach helps us to understand risk factors and how we can work to reduce deaths from suicide and improve support for those in crisis, as well as those bereaved by suicide.’

But Ms Smith told the Lochaber Times she found it ‘frankly baffling’ that the report said more work was required to understand why the rate of suicide in the NHS Highland board area was higher than the Scottish

Lochaber Hope manager Alyson Smith with the VAL award received by the charity in January 2021.

national average. It’s perfectly obvious to anyone living in the Highlands outside of Inverness why this is the case,’ she told the Lochaber Times.

‘Look around Fort William, for example. There is not enough affordable activity or housing for our own community members.

‘Cost of living in terms of rent has skyrocketed due to neighbourhoods being filled with unregulated short-term lets - and who can blame the local people who run these.

‘You would be a fool to turn away such sums when opportunity in the area is so diminished.

‘The Highland Cinema is one of the only things I can recall that has been established recently which is meant for the benefit of locals. We lack basic amenities and services for local people.

‘Most of the jobs in the area are in tourism and services and these can sometimes be quite low paying and not in keeping with the cost of living in the area, which is why there’s such a huge demand for social housing.

‘Until these issues are addressed, the underlying issues that they cause in terms of specific conditioned low self-esteem and self-worth, conditions and contributors will continue.

‘We need investment in our communities and people need a reason to feel proud of where they live and who they are.’

Ms Smith went on to say she found it strange the report did not mention Lochaber Hope as a supporting organisation when between February 2018 and the following February, 62 people had come through its doors saying they wanted to end their lives - one of whom was just nine years old.

Ms Smith said there were various individual reasons people attempted suicide, with reports saying those at high risk have poor mental health, major depressive disorder, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance misuse, trauma, adverse childhood events, unemployed and social exclusion to name a few, but the fact they were being labelled as such actually created a stigma that prevented them accessing the support needed.

Ms Smith added: ‘When those who are writing the report don’t know what’s going on successfully in the communities and build on that, there will continue to be more research, more reports and less funds for the relationships to be built that actually do save lives.

‘There is amazing expertise in the community - stop talking in labels and allow people to come forward and be proud to ask for help.’