Translink & Ballymena Samaritans get suicide prevention campaign on track

In the past four years, there have been five suicides and 19 attempted suicides on the NI Railways network.

Reducing those statistics in the coming years is the aim of the new province-wide partnership campaign “We’re In Your Corner”, which had its Ballymena launch on Friday.

It features a range of suicide prevention and post-incident activities, including:

* Training for rail employees to equip them with the skills and confidence to deal with someone in distress before making a sensitive referral to Samaritans;

* Setting up a Regional ’call-out’ service to support people in distress at railway sites; and,

* Support provision for rail employees and members of the public who have witnessed a fatality.

And, given that the rate of suicide amongst men in Northern Ireland is the highest in the UK, a poster campaign at Translink Stations uses a boxing theme to specifically target men in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are most vulnerable to suicide.

The local launch, last week, was attended by Phillip Tynan (Ballymena Samaritans Project Co-ordinator), Alan Thompson (Director of Ballymena Samaritans), Ballymena Mayor Cllr Hubert Nicholl, Ballymena rugby player John Andrew, Frank Moore (NI Railways Route Manager) and Ballymena Station staff.

Commenting on the “We’re In Your Corner” Campaign, Suzanne Costello, Director of Ireland Samaritans, said: “We know that men remain a high-risk group and we believe that they don’t feel able to talk about their problems. These can spiral out of control, sometimes with tragic consequences.

“Talking to someone is better than bottling things up and we hope that the poster campaign will prompt more people to seek support.

“We’re pleased to expand our partnership into Northern Ireland by working with Translink, helping Samaritans to achieve our vision that fewer people die by suicide,” she said.