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THE IRISH FARMERS’ Association and Pieta House have joined forces to highlight the large number of men in rural areas who take their own lives.
People who are feeling suicidal have been encouraged to connect with the support services available, including the Mind Our Farm Families phoneline and counselling service offered by the two groups.
Today marks World Suicide Prevention Day 2016 and this year’s theme is connect, communicate, care.
IFA president Joe Healy said the high rate of suicide, particularly among men in rural Ireland, was the driving force behind the IFA’s involvement is setting up a dedicated phoneline and counselling service.
The helpline, which can be reached on 1890 130 022, puts farmers in direct contact with a Pieta House therapist who can make an appointment at one of their 18 centres if needed.
“Suicide is preventable and it is so important that if you are feeling suicidal or you are concerned about a family member or friend that you talk to someone.
“The Mind Our Farm Families service is a solution focussed one-to-one counselling service that is completely free of charge,” Healy said.
800,000 deaths worldwide
The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 800,000 people die by suicide each year – that’s one person every 40 seconds. Up to 25 times as many people make a suicide attempt.
“Our vision is of a world where suicide, self-harm and stigma have been replaced by hope, self-care and acceptance,” Pieta House CEO Brian Higgins said.
In the last 10 years we have been brilliant at replacing suicide with hope and bringing people to self-care, but the biggest struggle for us is to replace stigma with acceptance.
“Individually, we all need to tackle the stigma that leads people to the doors of Pieta House. At Pieta House we have helped more than 25,000 people since 2006.
“Suicide is something that sadly affects every community in Ireland, but in rural and farming communities in particular it is vital that people know that our services are there if they need them,” Higgins said.
Pieta House will be at the IFA stand (block two, row 12, stand 289) at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly from 20-22 September to provide advice and information on the services offered.
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The HSE have devised a SCAN programme (suicide crisis assessment nurse) to work in primary care as a back up to GPs in relation to the assessment and follow up of people who present to GPs with suicidal ideation.The problem it has been roll out in very few areas.So the ideas are there, but in reality the tangible application of such programmes is lacking due to staffing and resource shortages. Same old, same old never ending story. Maybe Apple might sponser the programme, €13 million not to mind €13 billion would be more than enougt to get it rolled out nationally.
People indebt are the main reasons for suicide I recon.
Bobby lack of human contact and not being able to share your problems/thoughts/feelings are also a huge factor in suicide. We live in a society that spends more time looking at their phones than looking around at their community. We can do more.
Both of you are correct but also wrong. I have made several attempts on my life but now I’m stable holding down a good job. When I’m exposed to extreme stress I get badly affected but I’m learning to control it. As I said you are both correct but both wrong. Every suicide situation is different so we must not jump to conclusions. It’s complicated like all of life’s matters.
So sorry to hear that and hope you’re doing better. I absolutely agree that it is much more complicated than that. I did not mean to simplify it but I think having a community of people around helps more than being alone. There is a lot of truth in a problem shared is a problem halved. Being human is complicated and still not understood.
Yes thank you. I’m doing good. I’m having to fight for it but that’s what I need. As long as I have the fight I’m good.
You don’t say, when the heck did you relies that. It’s blatantly obvious
I m not saying we should allowe drunk driving, but the human interaction is big part in it, working hard all day and haveing a few tins in front of the box, would depresse any one. We all need a break from our jobs/lives, some thing to look forward how small it is, and very few living in rural Ireland has this.
You said it. There is nothing to look forward to, for anyone living in rural Ireland. Except the next Electricity Bill. The little bit of a pub culture that there was, has been wiped out by greedy publicans, the anti smoking brigade, and prohibitive laws related to car insurance, drink driving, etc. The only thing thriving in rural Ireland are the ‘schemes’ to help the FF and FG Voters, in the Gaa, the Rugby, and Soccer Clubs; to avail of EU funding for their rural regeneration ‘projects’. Regenerative ‘projects’ that can involve a million dollar extension to a dressing room of a ‘sports’ club. But the ‘projects’ invariably end up serving the interests of the FF and FG party members in the legal, business, and building sectors. All of which contributes to a vicious cycle of degeneration, not regeneration.
fairly pessimist there patricia
You do know it’s possible to buy non alcoholic drinks in a pub?
One of my pet peeves is that ESB Bill. fu€k!!g robbing ba$tardd. I go out of my way to kill the amount I pay them. I’m coming up will all sorts of schemes. I can now cut anyone’s ESB Bill by 50% guaranteed.
I wish them the best of success in this endeavour. There are few things so tragic as suicide, and in most cases there would be a good chance of averting it if society grasped the true extent of the problem and devoted the necessary effort and resources to reducing the incidence of it to the lowest level possible.
@ Charles Williams You are right that it wouldn’t cost very much to save a good few lives. And even if it cost a real stack, it would be cheap if it saved just one life.
They do magnificent work for people, but unfortunately not so for me. I went to Pieta house before for help with my depression. I was going through an immensely difficult time in my life and I had to go through a lot to even get to the stage where i knew i needed to go get help. I contacted Pieta for help, I needed to talk to someone. They said they were happy to help me, but not as i requested. My only request was that my Wife would be with me during any sessions i was to have. This was my way of getting through this and they would not hear tell of it. For an organisation that are there for suicidal people, they have to take on board what may help people in difficult circumstances. Thankfully I found help elsewhere who were more than willing to listen to what i needed to help me through these sessions.
@ JustMade Ireland Good point! Even if there was nothing else we could do, it might help if a farmer could look forward to at least a holiday once a year or didn’t have to drag himself out of bed when he is ill so that his cattle get milked, watered and fed. That is often very difficult to arrange.
One country that has found a solution is Finland, where the philosophy is that all workers deserve a holiday. Farmers can avail themselves of a contributory government-(part)funded scheme under which stand-ins are paid to look after livestock and things like that while the farmer is on holiday. It also creates a fair bit of part- or full-time employment, because the “lypsyttajat”(literally “milkers”) rotate from farm to farm within “rings” of 4 – 6 farms.
Here’s more information about it: https://www.mela.fi/en/farmers-holiday-and-stand-scheme
Fair play to them. A worthy causing reaching out to some of the most isolated and vulnerable.
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