Six. Every. Day.

Six. Every. Day. That’s how many suicides there are in Australia every day. Who are they? For one part of Australian society suicide almost never arose until 30 years ago. Who are they?

I was invited by Anne Summers to write this story about suicide, a topic I would never otherwise have covered. It is difficult and confronting for any of us even to think about it but perhaps by shining more light on the topic it may be possible to ease the great distress that leads many people to contemplate suicide. One person on average dies by suicide every 40 seconds somewhere in the world. In the US suicide has overtaken motor vehicle accidents.

The image in this story is the cover of Issue 5 of Anne Summers Reports. Please click through to subscribe (it’s free) to read my profile of suicide in Australia. It includes a personal story as well as interviews with Ian Webster, chairman of the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council and Dr Diego de Leo, Director of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention at Griffith University.
Read too about the hope and assistance being given to Australian farmers through Farmers’ Nights Off and Farmers’ Networks and about financial counselling received at right time can steer may help to steer someone away from suicide.

IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE:                                                        Suicide Call Back Service (24 hours): 1300 659 467;                                            Lifeline (24 hours): 13 11 14                                                                            National Suicide Prevention Strategy                                                                         Kids Help Line for 5-25-year-olds: 1800 55 1800                                            Financial counselling                                                                                     beyondblue 1300 22 4636                                                                                  Sane  1800 18 7263                                                                                         Farmer Power                                                                                           International Suicide Hotlines

Marian Edmunds (The Writing Business)