Male Suicide ITV

shine166

Spent some time over the last couple of weeks working on a project for ITV that was a collaboration between artist Mark Jenkins and the charity 'CALM'

'The campaign is called Project 84 and features 84 life-size sculptures (12 on top of This Morning's studio and a further 72 on ITV's HQ roof) to raise awareness of the fact that 84 men take their own lives every week in the UK, with suicide continuing to be the single biggest killer of men under 45 and three in four of all suicides being male.'


https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/itv-male-suicide-awareness-sculptures-building-roof-mental-health-project-84-calm-a8274326.html

flyingkiwiDK

Saw that on the news yesterday. Really powerful image.

hoof_it_up_to_benty

shine166 said:

Spent some time over the last couple of weeks working on a project for ITV that was a collaboration between artist Mark Jenkins and the charity 'CALM'

'The campaign is called Project 84 and features 84 life-size sculptures (12 on top of This Morning's studio and a further 72 on ITV's HQ roof) to raise awareness of the fact that 84 men take their own lives every week in the UK, with suicide continuing to be the single biggest killer of men under 45 and three in four of all suicides being male.'


https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/itv-male-suicide-awareness-sculptures-building-roof-mental-health-project-84-calm-a8274326.html

Very powerful project - too many men still reluctant to ask for help when depressed.

Saw the carnage of failed suicide attempts when I worked on an orthopaedic ward. It's a terrible issue and we need to give more support.

Suicide doesn't just take a life it also affects family and friends very badly.

shine166

flyingkiwiDK said:

Saw that on the news yesterday. Really powerful image.

Was a really emotional project and a honour to be involved, the 12 lower casts are of family members of men that took there own lives

hoof_it_up_to_benty

shine166 said:

flyingkiwiDK said:

Saw that on the news yesterday. Really powerful image.

Was a really emotional project and a honour to be involved, the 12 lower casts are of family members of men that took there own lives

I hope the project has a huge effect. So many people who take their own lives or attempt suicide could possibly have found a solution with the right support.

Suicide is something society has difficulty acknowledging - depression sadly can happen to anyone from any background. We need to help and not judge.

Dazzler21

Certainly is a well under appreciated problem.

- 2015 recorded 6,639 suicides in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

- 6,188 suicides were registered in the UK and 451 in the Republic of Ireland.

- The highest suicide rate in the UK was for men aged 40–44.

- The highest suicide rate in the Republic of Ireland was for men aged 25–34

- Male suicide rates are 3 times higher in the UK than Female rates.

- Suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales.

- One person in fifteen had made a suicide attempt at some point in their life.

- 1 in 25 suicide attempts are successful.

- One person commits suicide worldwide every 40 seconds!

- An average year has around 1 million suicides.

It is expected that the suicide rate will move to one suicide every 20 seconds by 2020 That's 3 every minute or 1,576,800 per year. That's roughly another 576,800 suicides per year.

This converts into 39,420,000 attempted suicides of which 30,000,000 will be males.

I really think the message of how much talking can help needs to be pushed. Everyone did it for a while, the Royals included, but then it stopped...

Suicides didn't stop though.

This is why I chose to do my 12 month challenge in 2016, I continue to lead a run club for those affected by Mental Health issues, or those that have lost family members or survived Cancer.

We need to make talking about and through these issues normal.

Solidgone

Sounds a great idea and a noble cause but how do you provide support to those that have committed suicide or do you mean providing support for the relatives/family? Supporting those that have had a failed attempted suicide is meaningful to provide I can accept. But those that are on the verge are surely depressed and suffering from depression? Suicide is the outcome?
I agree that it’s a very powerful image but it also looks like an advert for suicide.

Mrkinski

I read a moving blog post written by someone who lost her Dad to suicide and she made the point that she was unaware of how low / desperate her Dad was leading up to his death. It made her realise that we don't know what situation people are in, what they are going through at any given point, so we should basically always try to be nice / kind to people we come into contact with, to not add to peoples burdens. It costs nothing to be kind.

shine166

Solidgone said:

Sounds a great idea and a noble cause but how do you provide support to those that have committed suicide or do you mean providing support for the relatives/family? Supporting those that have had a failed attempted suicide is meaningful to provide I can accept. But those that are on the verge are surely depressed and suffering from depression? Suicide is the outcome?
I agree that it’s a very powerful image but it also looks like an advert for suicide.

Its more about making people aware of the issue, youd be surprised how many people asked me why men are the focus... even after sharing the stats. Im not really sure you can offer any support at all to people that have commited suicide ?

Heres the charity link, they will do a far better job than me at explaining more about it as this is a cause that is close to home and im maybe too emotionally attached...id be surprised if anyone sees this installation and gets inspired to take there own life.

https://www.thecalmzone.net/

hoof_it_up_to_benty

shine166 said:

Solidgone said:

Sounds a great idea and a noble cause but how do you provide support to those that have committed suicide or do you mean providing support for the relatives/family? Supporting those that have had a failed attempted suicide is meaningful to provide I can accept. But those that are on the verge are surely depressed and suffering from depression? Suicide is the outcome?
I agree that it’s a very powerful image but it also looks like an advert for suicide.

Its more about making people aware of the issue, youd be surprised how many people asked me why men are the focus... even after sharing the stats. Im not really sure you can offer any support at all to people that have commited suicide ?

Heres the charity link, they will do a far better job than me at explaining more about it as this is a cause that is close to home and im maybe too emotionally attached...id be surprised if anyone sees this installation and gets inspired to take there own life.

https://www.thecalmzone.net/

I would hope this project makes people aware there is help out there and that they are not the only one going through it. Mental illness can be very isolating.....