None of us are immune to suicide. Suicidal thoughts can sadly affect any age, gender, class, sexuality, occupation, race, monetary standing.

The excellent courses run by Grassroots charity https://www.prevent-suicide.org.uk teach techniques to prevent suicide. They advocate speaking out and listening: to ask directly, anyone you may be worried about, whether they are experiencing suicidal thoughts.

But we humans can be consummate actors; and we don’t like to talk about our darkest thoughts, even though we should. We are worried about stigmas and taboos. There shouldn’t be any!

I have known too many people who have taken their own lives. There seems to be no common factors. But I feel we are far more fragile than society still thinks or allows. Not everyone, for example, can enjoy a traditional festive period which is yearly forced upon us. We are pulled in by the expectations of the media, of having fun, of enjoying ourselves, of being with friends and family, and are made to feel inadequate…

There are too many factors which weigh and tug at our feelings, threatening to break our souls. We are often sinking, but are mistaken to be swimming. We are simply made of flesh and water, and we can’t be resilient to all the forces that hurt us.

The more we start a conversation, the more we humans can unite, not divide.

When we dare to talk more frankly, we find out that many of us have shared anxieties and problems. We establish that people who seem to be coping on the surface, often are not.

When we have candid conversations, we start to inject hope into one another, we can share resources and help to balance our delicate thoughts together. Together, we can help to prevent suicide.

Please share the Grassroots link on your social media pages and consider investing in one of their courses. A conversation can help save a life.