Tragic toll of male suicides
The lives of more teenage boys in the Wishaw area have been lost in recent months to suicide than to murders, drugs deaths and road accidents put together.
Police Superintendent Rob Hay says with five young men having taken their own lives in the last three months on his patch, suicide now exceeds those other causes of sudden death in young males aged 16 to 19.
Supt Hay said:“What struck me about these recent events was the lack of any kind of precursor, behaviour or warning.
“As a parent myself, I can identify with how frightening that must be.
“That is why these recent tragedies involving young men are so noteworthy because of their exceptional nature.
“As a police officer, I’ve had to deal with many suicides before and even for trained professionals, it is hard to deal with in terms of the loss it inflicts on families and friends who just want answers.
“Someone’s son, someone’s brother -– this represents a huge tragedy and a huge waste.
“It cannot help but touch a nerve in the community when they have lost five of their own. In the west coast
of Scotland, you shoulder your burden quietly and get on with it – and that is something we need to change.”
And he added:“Through this campaign, the Wishaw Press is helping to use these tragedies to change the conversation about suicide and mental health and encourage people to talking to one another and open up about themselves.”
Supt Hay says his North Lanarkshire division has invested in training 40 officers in the multi-agency‘Solihull Approach’ - a model for understanding the impact of relationships and adverse childhood experiences on health and wellbeing.
He also says there is a number of officers working in North Lanarkshire’s schools who have been upskilled in suicide prevention.
“Responsibility transcends any single agency,”he said.
“We want to do anything we can to support and ensure that what we put in place is as good as it can be. If people are bored and going about drinking, that becomes a negative cycle in your life. We need to change that paradigm through positive influences like sport and regular exercise.
“The old adage about health body, healthy mind is something I’m really supportive of.”
Supt Hay says that since 2016, his officers have seen a four-fold rise in the number of incidents of people presenting with vulnerability.
In contrast to 20 years ago when someone who was self-harming or suicidal would be locked in police cells for their own protection, modern policing responds in a more appropriate, thoughtful, considered way by making immediate referrals to partner agencies.
A Distress Brief Interventions (DBIs) pilot is underway in a bid to improve frontline service providers’response to people presenting in distress.
Rather than tea and sympathy, the model provides concrete, practical support.
Officers have also introduced joint patrols with third sector partner agencies to encourage people in distress to approach them for help.
With 75 per cent of suicide victims being male, Supt Hay Supt Hay says that the representation of men as victims of suicide is more than women victims of domestic abuse.
He said:“Domestic abuse is something we talk about a lot. We want to make sure we have the same scale of conversation about suicide and over-representation of males as victims of suicide.
“Men as victims of suicide are hugely over represented in the 30 to 50 age category. If you are a male under the age of 50 you are more likely to die by your own hand than by any other means.
“With driver behaviour and drugs, we can put in place enforcement activity.
“We don’t have that option with suicide, so we have to take an approach which is absolutely about prevention.
“If through this campaign we do see change and see conversations starting, then something positive has come out of these tragedies.”
Suicide Prevention North Lanarkshire’s film on the Youtube Channel, Shatter the Secrecy, aims to keep that conversation alive.
You can download a suicide prevention mobile app from GooglePlay by searching SPLC summit.