Suicide Awareness meeting

A meeting on suicide awareness held in the Town Hall last week heard details of how to set up a Suicide Intervention group, aimed at deflecting vulnerable people from taking their own lives.



It was organised by the Bethany Bereavement Support Group and addressed by specialists in the field psychologist Mark Fitzpatrick and Maread Smyth, pictured above with Adrienne Murphy, Fr Michael Murphy, Mary Phelan, Siobhan Murphy and Mary Dillon.

"We're hoping that people will get involved and take part in a two-day training programme run by the ASSIST organisation," Mark Fitzpatrick said. "The programme is essentially a 'first aid' for suicide intervention, with local trained people being on call for families in imminent suicide crisis."

The recent and rapid growth of Kilcullen, with a strong influx of new people, can put the community at a higher risk of having a suicide problem.

"Traditionally in Ireland people didn't move far from the family, so there was always a support there," Mark Fitzpatrick says. "There were parents, siblings, or extended family members. But now things have changed, people are moving out from the cities, and are faced with having to integrate into a new community. They may not be sure of the local resources, and who is there to help them in various issues."

In such situations, some individuals can become more isolated even in a large community, and that's a cause for concern for towns like Kilcullen, particularly those around Dublin.

"The research would indicate that this kind of isolation, or even just a percieved isolation, is one of the major factors for the increase in young male suicide," Maread Smyth says.

Brian Byrne.