National 3 Peaks in Aid of Suicide Awareness

Content Warning - This post discusses suicide and suicidal feelings

Samaritans are a charity that provides support to people both in times of crisis as well as helping to take action to prevent the crisis.

They can be contacted through the below methods:

Phone - For free on 116 123

Email – jo@samaritans.org

Online - https://www.samaritans.org

Thanks for taking the time to visit our page and support our fundraiser. We hope that if you can find the time to read this it will help you spot if someone around you is struggling and know how you can support them as well as get them further support if required.

Our main goal is to reduce the taboo around suicide as a topic and increase people’s knowledge of how to help someone they are concerned about and spot the potential signs that someone is struggling. We appreciate that the cost of living currently is high so any donations are hugely appreciated and will go a long way in providing support to someone that is struggling.

We have chosen to complete the National 3 Peaks as our fundraiser because the time we have spent in the outdoors as a group being able to talk freely about how we feel without judgement is something that has helped us through our struggles and we would now like to try and give it a bit back to others by helping raise awareness of this topic. This challenge involves climbing the highest peak in each of Scotland (Ben Nevis - 1345m), England (Scafell Pike - 978m) and Wales (Yr Wyddfa - 1085m), it will involves 23 miles of walking, 6400m of altitude ascent/descent and 462 miles of driving, we will be attempting this on the 23rd June 2023.

In the UK in 2021 there was a suicide rate of 10.5 deaths per 100,000 people with three men dying by suicide for every woman. The statistics show that 1 in 20 people make a suicide attempt at some point during their lives, with 1 in 5 people experiencing suicidal thoughts during their lives.

Only a third of people that die as a result of suicide had been in contact with specialist health support in the year before their death. This statistic alone makes us believe that suicide is a preventable cause of death and that the best way we can achieve this is by looking out for the people around us, providing them with a safe space to talk without fear of judgement and being able to help them get the support they require, as any situation someone is experiencing is always temporary and will improve.

One of the biggest misconceptions about suicide is that it is a wish to die when it is instead an attempt to escape suffering that a person feels has become unbearable. It can involve feelings of self-loathing, hopelessness, isolation and the feeling that nothing will improve. Whilst some people may feel comfortable talking to the people around them when they have feelings like this not all will, and this is when knowing some signs that a person could be struggling is crucial. Spotting that someone around you is struggling can be very hard to notice as people often feel ashamed of feeling this way and are worried about how someone will react if they tell them. So we have included some of the key bits of knowledge we feel are important to know, which may help you notice if someone around you could be struggling.

How to support someone:

The SHUSH tips provided by Samaritans provide an excellent basic overview of how you can be there for someone, these are:

S – Show you care

H – Have patience

U – Use open questions

S – Say it back

H – Have courage

Further detail on each of these points can be found at the link below:

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/what-do-if-you-think-someone-struggling/

Signs to look out for:

• Feeling restless and agitated

• Feeling angry and aggressive

• Feeling tearful

• Being tired or lacking in energy

• Not wanting to talk to or be with people

• Not wanting to do things they usually enjoy

• Using alcohol or drugs to cope with feelings

• Finding it hard to cope with everyday things

• Not replying to messages or being distant

• Talking about feeling hopeless, helpless or worthless

• Talking about feeling trapped by life circumstances they can’t see a way out of, or feeling unable to escape their thoughts

• A change in routine, such as sleeping or eating more or less than normal

• Engaging in risk-taking behaviour, like gambling or violence

Other links

We have listed below some more links that can be of use for people to read if they have the time:

Tips for helping someone to open up

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/little-tips/

Common misconceptions about suicide

https://www.samaritans.org/branches/ballymena/samaritans-ballymena-news/suicide-prevention-help-available-from-samaritans/

Signs that someone may not be ok

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/

What to do if you think someone is struggling

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/what-do-if-you-think-someone-struggling/

Supporting someone online

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/supporting-someone-online/

When should you let someone else help

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/when-you-should-let-someone-else-help/

How to talk about getting extra support

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/how-talk-about-getting-extra-support/

Looking after yourself

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/looking-after-yourself/

Links to different organisations for support on specific topics unique to a person's situation:

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-having-difficult-time/other-sources-help/

Thank you for taking the time to read this, anyone that can share this page anywhere to hopefully increase the number of people able to increase their knowledge of how to help someone is greatly appreciated and hopefully through the time taken by people reading and sharing this many lives will be saved.

The Team

Walkers: Jack, Cam, Fin, Sam

Drivers and Support: James, Kai

We will be posting regular updates in the lead-up and throughout on the Instagram page below:

https://www.instagram.com/circle3peaks/

Thanks

Jack, Cam, Fin, Sam, James, Kai

Goal update: To say we’re overwhelmed by the initial support would be an understatement. We can’t thank everyone enough for taking the time to read this and helping us hit our initial goal of £500 raised. Following this support we have opted to raise our goal as we continue our efforts.