> Men and Suicide
Men and suicide
Around 6,000 people in the UK take their own lives every year and three-quarters of them are men.
Of these, the men most likely to die by suicide are those aged 25-55.
Samaritans are now launching a five-year campaign to get all men talking about their feelings. The aim is to get them to consider that calling Samaritans' 24/7 confidential helpline could be an option for them.
Equally, though, we believe that talking to anyone - family, friends, colleagues, health professionals - is better than bottling things up.
Samaritans research
Our research into this target group also found that men from poorer backgrounds, those who are unemployed or in manual jobs, and those who have experienced difficult times such as financial worries or breakdowns in their family relationships were more likely to take their own lives.
Samaritans Facebook 
Samaritans launches Facebook drive to encourage support for friends struggling to cope
Samaritans has teamed up with Facebook to create a pioneering new scheme allowing you to get help for any friend you believe is struggling to cope or feeling suicidal in the UK and Ireland.
People concerned about a friend will be able to tell Samaritans via Facebook’s Help Centre, where you can report any content such as status updates or wall posts that is worrying you.
Facebook will then put Samaritans in touch with the distressed friend to offer their expert support.
Samaritans provides confidential, non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day. Samaritans’ confidentiality means that if you contact Samaritans about a friend, we will not disclose your name. Each year Samaritans’ 18,500 volunteers respond to five million calls from people feeling down, depressed, anxious or suicidal.
On Samaritans’ Facebook page you can also find advice on supporting vulnerable friends, such as how to spot the signs of distress and how to start a difficult conversation.
Catherine Johnstone, Chief Executive of Samaritans, said:
Through the popularity of Facebook, we are harnessing the power of friendship so people can get help. As a friend you are better placed to know whether someone close to you is struggling to cope or even feeling suicidal.
We want to remind people that if a friend says that life isn’t worth living, they should always be taken seriously. Facebook is a part of daily life for so many of us and we must make sure that people online have support when they need it.”
Facebook’s Director of Policy for Europe, Richard Allan said:
We're pleased to welcome the expertise of a great partner in Samaritans. They will help to make our robust reporting system even more effective, as friends are encouraged to look out for one another on Facebook as they do in the real world. This supplements the number of ways to get help already available on Facebook, from our Help Centre to the reporting tools we offer”
Samaritans’ volunteers have welcomed the initiative. Sandra Forrester, director of Samaritans’ Northampton branch and part of the team responding to the Facebook referrals, said:
It is a brilliant idea that we team up with Facebook as it is another way for vulnerable people to know that we are here to support them, and that they aren’t alone.”
Anyone feeling distressed and needing to talk can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day by phoning 08457 90 90 90, emailing jo@samaritans.org, visiting a branch or refer a friend via Facebook.
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> Money Worries
Money worries on the rise: 2010 a bad year in Yorkshire and The Humber say a third of people. Scarborough Samaritans advises people not to suffer alone amid fears for 2011
Friday 17 December 2010
Samaritans’ annual survey of the nations’ worries, published today, shows that just over half (52%) of people in Yorkshire and The Humber fear they will not have enough money to live comfortably next year, with just over a third (34%) worried about losing their jobs or having difficulty finding work.
The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people identified money (debt and bank balance) as one of the region’s biggest concerns of the past year as well, with well over half (57%) of the Yorkshire and Humber population saying it was one of their top-five worries of 2010, compared with 47 per cent in 2009.
The other main sources of anxiety during 2010 were domestic politics (reported by 35% of people – the highest percentage of all the UK regions), job security (34%), world affairs (31%) and physical health (30%). In 2009, the top-five worries aside from money were relationships with family and friends (48%), physical health (31%), ability to cope emotionally (28%) and workplace stress (23%).
The survey also found that 2010 was considered a bad year or the worst year ever by just under a third (32%) of the Yorkshire and Humber population. It showed too that a quarter (25%) of people in the region didn’t seek support from anyone to help them cope with their worries.
Other key findings for Yorkshire and The Humber were:
- worries about job security (by 34% of people) were the highest among all UK regions in 2010, rising sharply from 18 per cent in 2009;
- nearly two thirds (63%) of people are worried that next year they will suffer directly from cuts in spending on public services;
- just over a quarter (26%) of people fear losing their home next year – compared to 22 per cent of people for whom housing was a top-five worry in 2010 and only 13 per cent in 2009;
- worries about relationships with family and friends have decreased from 48 per cent in 2009 to 24 per cent in 2010 as other worries have risen.
Alan Watson, Branch Director of Scarborough Samaritans, said:
As a region, our concerns have, unsurprisingly, become increasingly focused over the past year on having enough money to live comfortably. It’s also clear that many of us are anxious about keeping our jobs and homes. The most important thing to remember in these tough times is that we can all help each other and no one should suffer alone.
“We are appealing to anyone in Scarborough facing difficulties, no matter what they are, to call Samaritans. Our volunteers will be there to listen to your worries 24 hours a day, every day, over the Christmas period and throughout the coming year.”
A full national and regional breakdown of the 2010 survey can be found here:
http://www.samaritans.org/pdf/Results_for_Samaritans_Worries_2010.pdf
For comparison, Samaritans’ 2009 YouGov survey can be found here:
http://www.samaritans.org/pdf/WorriesSurveyUK-databreakdownFINAL141209.pdf
