She said the risk of suicide was often not considered even among those patients who had been identified as having a mental illness, and even once somebody had attempted suicide care was often lacking. She said people who went to their GP or casualty after attempting suicide often received crisis support but no follow up care in the longer term. These are people who show signs they are in crisis. The Samaritans do a lot of work just raising awareness of our service. Apart from our service, there is very little out there for people who have that sense of hopelessness.
People ring the Samaritan helpline to talk through a wide range of emotional problems.
But the spokeswoman added it was those who currently did not feel able to pick up the phone, to a stranger or a friend, that the organisation wanted to reach. One of the challenges for our organisation is to try and raise awareness in a way that will help people access us before they are suicidal. One successful innovation has been an e-mail service to the charity which the charity said, can allow people to open up more freely than they sometimes can on the phone.