Sister speaks out amid suicide crisis

Published Wednesday, 17 October 2012
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A sister who lost two younger brothers to suicide within months of each other has spoken to UTV Live Tonight about the tragedies, as calls are made to tackle the growing problem in east Belfast.

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While more work is needed to tackle the issue of suicide in Northern Ireland, high numbers of incidences - many involving young men - in north and west Belfast have been well documented.

But problems in the east of the city seem to have flown under the radar, until it emerged that seven suicides had been reported in the area in just ten days.

Eight weeks ago, Margaret Dunbar's youngest brother Stephen took his own life.

He had been struggling to cope with the loss of another member of the family, after Margaret's brother Jonathan took his own life in February last year. He sunk into a deep depression.

Everybody's devastated. It just left everybody shattered.

Margaret Dunbar

"There was only a year between them," Margaret told UTV Live Tonight.

"They did everything together. And when Jonathan went ... Stephen died too. He just wasn't the same any more. His whole attitude changed and he couldn't hack it.

"He didn't get the help he needed."

Across Northern Ireland, the number of suicides has doubled in the last decade - on average 300 people take their own lives each year.

In east Belfast, a volunteer for Survivors of Suicide told UTV more grassroots support is vital.

"We need to reduce the stigma that's attached to suicide in east Belfast," Claire Curran said.

"We need to make people aware of support that is available and how they can access it, and we need to have more support on the ground for people in crisis when they need it."

It's not just about the individuals, it's about equipping us as a community to respond when people speak out and to make sure that we listen and we act and we act decisively and comprehensively.

Dr Rooney, Public Health Agency

Dr Eddie Rooney from the Public Health Agency told UTV that suicide is an extremely serious issue which the agency and the Department of Health are working hard on.

"Too many lives are being lost through suicide and we're working together with communities to get those figures down," he said.

"Until we see figures coming down in suicide, we believe more needs to be done."

He said the agency had been working closely with the east Belfast community in order to identify how best to tackle the problem.

EXTERNAL LINKS / CONTACTS
Lifeline telephone: 0808 808 8000
East Belfast community counselling telephone: 02890 460489
"We need to get to the roots of the issues in mental health that are driving high levels of suicide and turn that down," Dr Rooney said, adding that it is crucial to get anyone feeling suicidal to speak out.
© UTV News
Comments Comments
10 Comments
Melissa Braniff in Newtownabbey wrote (215 days ago):
Margaret so proud of you love you spoke excellent on behalf of all the family and the affect suicide has impacted them. Also myself I have lost 2 cousins through suicide and you always as the question why... Please lets hope we can all raise awareness for suicide and mental health issues and realize that it happens to 1 in 4 of us I have been there quite a few times with depression and its like a dark hole but there is light and were there is light there is hope out there. Talk to someone never ever feel alone and please everyone suicide is not the answer xxxx
chris in down wrote (216 days ago):
My daughter 8 years ago aged 15 attemped sucicide. She suffers from severe clinical depression. She was fine again up until last year when she had another major depression. The NHS administrators should be ashamed of themselves. She was ucicidal. We knew she was in danger. Our Gp did all she could but was blocked by a booking system that didn't care about any thing except numbers. We were told she would have to wait for help/assessment for anything from 10 days to 11 weeks. HOW CAN YOU TELL someone who is sucicidal to wait at all !! Its like telling someone who is having a heartattack to wait.Mental health is bottom of the list of concerns. They love investigating reasons because the admin people can keep themselves in work spending more money pretending to find out what they already know. We had to take our savings for our daughters university education and pay for her to be taken into a private phyciatric hospital down south.
sean in west tyrone wrote (216 days ago):
yes very sad my family suffered two suicides within a month something has to be done its the rath of the fat cats.
Ryan in Belfast wrote (217 days ago):
Its really sad when you hear of anyone taking their life and especially sad for their loved ones. Theres a real problem with suicide in our society and we need the resources to combat it. Due to the financial crisis this situation is going to get worse if we dont do something about it. I know every case of suicide is different in one way or another and i know the financial crisis isnt the only factor involved. People have to speak more about their problems and seek help, i know thats easier said than done but it can be done.
Sean O'Brien in Ballymena wrote (217 days ago):
My thoughts and prays are with you and your family at this time Suicide is awful my family has lost 4 people more help is needed for people who struggle thanks to my GP i came out the other side
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