Opening a dialogue on suicide

SUICIDE has taken a terrible toll throughout the country and West Clare has suffered as much as anywhere.

 

With this in mind, a new group has been established called West Clare Taking Care and it is holding an event entitled Conversation on Aspects of Suicide at the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point from 7pm next Wednesday night.

The event will be addressed by representatives of Pieta House and the Samaritans, two of the organisations working to prevent suicide, while Owen O’Mahony of Clare Suicide Bereavement Support will also be speaking.

Thomas O’Connor of West Clare Taking Care outlined the background to the establishment of the fledgling organisation.

“Basically it’s a group that’s made up of people who are concerned about suicide in the local area. While individuals were talking, there didn’t seem to be a concerted effort to address some of the issues so the idea of the group is to start providing information to the local community. Also, a number of the services that work in this area need to be invited into the community. they won’t come in unless they are invited, so the idea would be to work at enabling people with expertise to come in.”

He explained the format of next Wednesday night. “We have three speakers who have expertise, one is from the Samaritans, one from Pieta House and another from Clare Suicide Bereavement Support.

“The three organisations offer different things and they’ll all have stands there so people can go around and see what services they provide. In addition to that we will have a range of other people who are involved with services not solely around suicide. Clare Youth Services, William Winders Rainbow Foundation, Clare Local Development Company, Alcoholics Anonymous and Dóchas are coming out.”

While West Clare Taking Care isn’t six months in existence, there have been a few events already. “We have already run a number of open mic nights for teenagers in the area, where people can read a poem or sing a song or whatever and those nights have been successful. We’re also looking at the potential of setting up a men’s shed group within the area as well.”

While all are welcome to attend next Wednesday’s event, the organisation is particularly focusing on the Miltown and Kilmurry-Ibrickane areas.

Pieta House is still a relatively new body, which works to help people in crisis. It is a non-profit organisation, which was established in 2006 and provides a specialised treatment programme for people who have suicidal ideation or who participate in self-harming behaviours. The services it provides are free of charge.

Spokesman Tom McEvoy said it provides counselling for those in crisis. “What Pieta House offers is one-to-one counselling, which has a therapeutic nature and is specifically for people who are in a suicide crisis or who are self harming.”

Family support is another important part of what Pieta House offers and Tom said they were very pleased to be asked to attend the Spanish Point event.

“Obviously Pieta House are delighted to be involved in this initiative. It certainly will have some benefits to all three organisations, to get some sort of idea as to what is being done locally and what local people want to be supported on. We’re going out there to bring our message along with the Samaritans and Clare Suicide Bereavement Support to the community and hopefully people will embrace that, be encouraged by what they hear and we look forward to working closely with the people of West Clare and other like-minded organisations.”

The Samaritans have been in existence since 1953 and there has been a presence in Clare for the last 30 years, with the organisation now based on the Kilrush Road in Ennis.

They are available 24/7, offering confidential emotional support to people who are experiencing feelings of distress and despair, including feelings that may lead to suicide.

Gerry Dobbin is director of the Clare branch of the Samaritans and he said people can contact the organisation in a variety of ways.

“We take telephone calls, which make up most of our contacts, while we also accept face-to-face visitors at our centre in Ennis and we also receive contacts by email. When people get in touch with us we talk to them about how they are feeling and the issues they are dealing with. While we would discuss people’s situations with them, we do not give advice to anyone. Also we are not judgmental of anyone.”
Death by suicide can have a terribly severe effect on family and friends and Clare Suicide Bereavement Support helps those impacted.

Spokesman Owen O’Mahony said it offers a range of supports.

“On the night we’ll be talking about the prevalence of suicide and the service that we offer to people who are bereaved by suicide. We offer one to one support, or family support if required, and we can do that in the home if we are invited to do so, or at our centre in Roslevan. That’s our starting point.

“As well as that we do healing programmes, which are a series of meetings over eight weeks, one night a week, where we meet as a group with bereaved people. Again, it’s an opportunity to talk and share and meet other people who are bereaved by suicide.

“Also, one night a month we have a support night for people bereaved by suicide. That’s in Roslevan and the healing programme takes place there too at the moment, but for areas at a distance from Ennis we’re prepared to organise healing programmes in those areas, should people require it.”

Pieta House can be contacted at 061 484646 or mary@pieta.ie, the Samaritans can be contacted at 1850 60 90 90 or jo@samaritans.org, while Clare Suicide Bereavement Support are available at 086 0565373 or 087 3698315 while their website is www.claresuicidebereavementsupport.com.