NCL Suicide Prevention and Bereavement Support Service, a new service specifically designed to support people aged 18 years and over affected by suicide, will start helping people in Camden, Islington, Barnet, Haringey and Enfield from Wednesday 22nd April 2020 at 6pm.
New suicide prevention service launched
The service, commissioned jointly by the five North Central London Boroughs and run by the charity Rethink Mental Illness, will offer support to anyone in those five boroughs who has been affected by suicide. This includes anyone who has experienced suicidal thoughts either now or in the past, their family, friends and carers and anyone who has been bereaved by suicide.
The service has been set-up to ensure people can access additional support during the Covid-19 pandemic. It will initially provide a helpline which will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6pm-8pm and on Sunday from 6pm-9pm. This helpline will provide support via:
- a freephone number 08088 02 00 80 (Calls to this helpline are free from landlines and mobile phones within the UK and do not appear on itemised bills.)
- by text message on 07860 058 793 (Text messages are charged at usual network rate and texts will be responded to during helpline opening hours)
- webchat, which can be accessed during service opening hours by visiting www.rethink.org/ncl-suicide
The helpline will offer emotional support, practical information and signpost callers to other services which can offer support.
You can find the service on facebook by searching for @NCLSuicidePreventionandBereavementService
Cllr Caroline Stock, Chair of the Barnet Health & Wellbeing Board, said:
“These are challenging times for everyone. For some people that challenge will seem overwhelming, and they will be feeling that the future holds little hope for them. We know that talking can help, and want everyone to have someone to talk to when they most need it. We hope that this new service will support people in our local communities to recognise that there is light in their futures and to start to see a way out of their current despair.”
Katie Foulser, Head of Community Services South at Rethink Mental Illness, said:
“Every forty seconds, someone in the world loses their life to suicide. Experiencing your own suicidal feelings or the loss of a friend or loved one to suicide can be a disorientating and painful experience; the effects of which can be difficult to manage on your own. This new service will mean that local people don’t have to bear that burden alone.”
For further information and support, please visit www.rethink.org/ncl-suicide