Special meeting sought to discuss suicides
APPEAL SOSAD urges people in crisis to get in touch
Cavan County Council is to convene a special meeting to discuss the spate of suicides locally following a strong and empassioned demand by local councillors.
“The time for hiding behind press releases is over,” scathed Independent Councillor Shane P O’Reilly, as he joined others in extending sympathies to the families and friends of several people who had died by suicide in Cavan recently.
He appealed for a special sitting of the council before the end of April “dealing solely with the issue of mental health” in the county.
“We’re in a crisis situation in this county at this time,” said Cllr O’Reilly at last Monday’s monthly meeting of elected members.
His comments follow the death of another young person in the county at the weekend.
According to SOSAD Cavan, up to the end of October 2022, the suicide prevention and bereavement support charity offered 18,881 counselling hours, dealt with 2,346 phone calls, and engaged in 363 messaging chats with people suffering from poor mental health or suicidal ideation.
The special meeting will invite input from such local support services, as well as clinical and psychiatric specialists from within the HSE and Cavan General Hospital.
Cllr O’Reilly continued: “Statutory services have to be held accountable.”
He made reference to the deep sense of loss and devastation felt in a community after a death by suicide. “The last few weeks it’s been one after another after another after another.”
Cllr O’Reilly was supported in his comments by Belturbet’s Brendan Fay (Ind) who sits on the board of SOSAD Cavan.
Fianna Fáil’s Aiden Fitzpatrick noted how the first anniversary of the heartbreaking and untimely passing of another young man in his community takes place at the end of the month.
“There have been so many suicides and what has changed? Nothing as far as I can see,” Cllr Fitzpatrick lamented.
With frustration he admitted there was “possibly” nothing the local authority could do directly to stem the tide, yet still acknowledged: “Something has to be done.”
“It’s not just teenagers taking their own lives, it’s people in their early seventies and down.”
Welcoming the launch of the Cavan Monaghan Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse’s service late last year with the appointment of two clinical nurse specialists to cover the Cavan-Monaghan area, Cllr Fitzpatrick described his own son as having been “heartbroken” by the news of one such recent death. “They play football, they all know each other, chat to each other.”
In response to recent deaths in the community, coordinator at SOSAD Cavan, Christine Wynne, told The Anglo-Celt that now is an “opportunity to open a conversation” at home or in the workplace with family, friends or work colleagues.
“If anyone is struggling, please reach out through the phone or we also have the messaging service, which is available through the website from 8pm-12. Now is the time to save the phone number of whoever you would reach out to if it’s a person or a helpline and then you have it if you need it and don’t have to go looking for it.”
She concluded: “There is nothing that we haven’t heard before and we know how hard it is to take the first step.”
CONTACT
* If you, or anyone you know needs to talk, contact SOSAD Cavan on 049-4326339.