Online healthcare provider calls for more prevention efforts to stop suicide pandemic claiming a life every 40 seconds

An online healthcare provider is calling for widespread action to do more to prevent the suicide ‘pandemic’ which has claimed the lives of millions in the past five years alone and to realise the cause is not just mental it is often social.

London based( Stockwell Road) Online GP and wellbeing experts Vala Health, say with an average of one death every 40 seconds* from suicide, it is every bit as much a global pandemic, but without any government measures in place to stop it spreading.

Vala Health CEO Pete Trainor, who is also a mental health and suicide prevention campaigner, says with a life being lost to suicide globally every 40 seconds it is a huge concern it is not being treated with the urgency of coronavirus, with much of the limited support for people coming from the third sector.

Pete, who is an advisory board member to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and Stigma Statistics, says the global picture on suicide is extremely worrying, with the picture for UK men particularly stark, with rates reaching their highest since 2000.

Stigma Stats is a social enterprise aiming to map suicide data in real time globally to enable more timely support for the bereaved, better intervention and prevention strategies.

Pete said: “In the UK, men are three times more likely to die as a result of suicide than women, a rate in the Republic of Ireland which rises to four times higher for men than women and half the problem is people only seem to link suicide to mental health when there are so many other causes a lot of which are social.”

Pete says whilst many people might feel it is poor taste to compare causes of death, the reality is when someone takes their own life the ramifications are severe and often widespread. So, while COVID-19 can be spread from person to person – suicide has a much greater impact than other causes of death and it also has more complicated causes made worse by austerity.

Vala says suicide can be a result of everything from job loss, debt and divorce to infidelity and marriage breakdown and the diagnosis or a terminal illness to online trolling or morbid depression based on poor lifestyle choices. And whilst many people might find it controversial, suicide can be a ‘bad day’ problem not just a mental health one and that needs to be part of the conversation.

Pete said: “Faced with a virus that globally on average causes one death every 31 seconds**, governments across the board put countries into lockdown. They are shielding the most vulnerable, many closed their borders, shut shops and businesses. Even as measures have relaxed there are face masks to be worn among many more precautions – all in a bid to save lives.

“Yet in the case of suicide, what precautions are most governments taking to identify and protect the vulnerable? Where are the mental and social health equivalents of face masks being introduced, where is the daily media concern? Where are government guidelines to help companies protect their staff?” What is being done to stop the online trolling?

Pete believes by asking people to protect themselves and each other by social distancing, regular hand washing and wearing face masks, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making COVID-19 ‘everyone’s concern’ as it can affect anybody – and the same mindset should also apply to suicide.

Pete said: “Suicide awareness and prevention should be fundamental to everyone, in their personal, family and business lives. Mental health first aid should be considered as important as medical first aid in the workplace.”

Whilst the stress and isolation caused by coronavirus and its countermeasures have already started to create a mental health crisis in the UK, Pete believes it is significant that even with all the stress that businesses are facing – statistics for corporate suicide have reduced over the last 6 months.

Pete explains: “For many firms looking after staff mental health and happiness is just buying donuts or beer on a Friday or giving them free stuff, which is often just a gimmick.

“What matters more when it comes to job related mental health is work life balance – and it seems for a lot of people that comes with homeworking.”

World Suicide Prevention Day aims to start the conversation about suicide and to show the things can be done to help prevent it.

Pete said: “There are lots of individuals, charities, social enterprises and even businesses doing their parts for suicide prevention and supporting vulnerable individuals who explicitly call out for help and support. But there is also the domino effect of this years lockdown, and economic disaster that will result in debt, job-loss, marriage breakdowns and that is going to be catastrophic when we know that loss-of-purpose is a huge driver of suicide rates.

“The government needs to invest as heavily in support outlets for the public, as they are in track-and-trace of the Covid-19 disease, or risk adding to the second stealth-pandemic that already claims so many lives in this country and many others.”

London-based Vala Health offers on-demand appointments with primary care clinicians on its platform. It also provides a corporate service including occupational health, which has proven vital to firms dealing with a range of staff issues intensified by the coronavirus. They work in partnership with online therapy platform HelloSelf where people can access a clinical psychologist for depression, anxiety and other personal and mental health issues.”

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