THE GRASP LIFE Foundation, an Irish charity organisation which helps those who are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are worried about someone who is, have launched an app for both iPhone and Android.

GRASP – which stands for Greater Responsibility and Awareness in Suicide Prevention – is the brainchild of Mary McTernan, a mental health professional who lost her son to suicide in 2004.

The charity now has a team of five psychotherapists and two doctors available, who can be contacted via their helplines.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie about the app, McTernan says that she felt “something like this was missing”.

“There’s are lot of negative talk about technology at the moment,” she said. “It is these kinds of things [apps] that young people are using these days so it’s very important that they have resources such as this.”

Once downloaded, users can access advice as well as contact information for different help organisations, based on their current location.

The free app is available for download from both the App Store and Google Play.

Column: When suicide hits the media, how do we deal with it? >