The important thing is to listen to a person who has disclosed suicidal thoughts and not judge them for it or say they are exaggerating. It is also important to make sure that you can sit with them in a quiet location where you can genuinely have the time and space to actively listen to them and understand whether they are thinking of doing it immediately, meaning it is an acute emergency, or if they have been thinking about it for a long time and having a difficult time.
Sarah Harrison, Technical Team Lead
Video: Suicides can be prevented
September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, a day we address the importance of suicide prevention and raise awareness of the measures we can all take to prevent suicides. In this light, the IFRC Psychosocial Centre has compiled a package of resources and upcoming events about suicide prevention.
Podcast
Heartbeat of Humanity: Suicide Prevention in The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement
In the PS Centre’s latest episode of Heartbeat of Humanity, Senior Communications Advisor Jesper Guhle interviews Technical Team Lead Sarah Harrison about how Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers can implement suicide prevention services in their programmes.
The podcast Heartbeat of Humanity is mainly for staff and volunteers in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, especially staff and volunteers working in mental health and psychosocial support services.
Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or wherever you find your podcasts.
Publications about suicide prevention from the PS Centre
Events
Live Forum: “The numbers are lives, how do we take them into account?”
The PS Centre’s Co-Chair IASC RG on MHPSS in Emergency Settings, Carmen Valle-Trabadelo, is a panelist in an upcoming Live Forum: “The numbers are lives, how do we take them into account?”. Registration is possible to attend the event in Spanish – 8 September – and in English- 23 September.
Social Media
In the weeks leading up to World Suicide Prevention Day, the PS Centre’s weekly Friday exercises will tailored to fit the theme of 2022’s World Suicide Prevention Day, ‘Creating hope through action’. The first exercise was posted on 2 September. If not familiar with the Friday exercises, they can be found on the PS Centre’s social media channels Facebook and Instagram. Throughout the month, the PS Centre will also continue to participate in the social media suicide prevention campaign created by IFRC Americas in English and Spanish.
Follow the PS Centre on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter for more.