The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) aims to create hope through action for World Suicide Prevention Day.
The annual campaign on September 10 aims to bring the reality of South Africa’s high suicide rates into the spotlight.
According to the support group’s operations director Cassey Chambers, the suicide crisis helpline has received more than 75 000 suicide calls since January this year from people who are really struggling.
“There are still many more people who haven’t reached out, or who are too scared to talk to someone, and don’t know where to go for help.”
Chambers added that suicide in South Africa has always been a concerning issue with high rates even before Covid-19, especially among men who are four times more likely to commit suicide than women.
Before the lockdown in 2020, the crisis helpline was receiving an average of 600 calls per day.
At the beginning of lockdown, the call volumes doubled to 1 200 per day and now, 18 months later, the helpline is fielding more than 2 200 calls per day.
“This figure excludes the hundreds, and thousands more, emails, WhatsApp’s, social media and SMS messages from people reaching out for help each day,” said Chambers.
Sadag would like to encourage communities to create hope through action by:
- Learning the warning signs of suicide and symptoms of depression
- Changing the way we talk about or refer to mental health and suicide in our day-to-day conversations
- Take the time to reach out to someone who is not coping, check in and ask them directly if they are feeling suicidal or ask how they are really doing
- Creating awareness by sharing resources and helpful information on mental health to help educate others, normalise conversations around difficult topics and link people to treatment and support.
For more information, visit www.sadag.org
Do you need someone to talk to? Contact the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0800 567 567.
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