“It’s better to do something, than nothing, When doing nothing becomes something”
SPIIOW – the Isle of Wight’s Suicide Prevention and Intervention organisation is looking at “one year on”. Today 20th November is one year since the first suicide intervention was carried out by SPIIOW. Since then the use of the service has increased showing a need for both Suicide Prevention workshops and Interventions across the Island.
Sarah Adams of Suicide Prevention & Intervention IOW says:
I have been involved with SPIIOW since the start and in the build up to the launch of SPIIOW. The idea came as “a bit of a lightbulb moment” looking at services across the Island and the need to prevent suicides in our community with the rates being too high – in our view one death by suicide is too many.
Our aim from day one is still the same as it is now and that is we seek to save lives from suicide across the Isle of Wight this done by using proven prevention training and / or using proven suicide (crisis)
intervention to reach out, offering hope to anyone who is suicidal be that coastal or inland.
Even to date there is a lot of stigma and taboo attached to suicide, our aim is to break this down and for people to talk openly about it and the way they are feeling. We break down the stigma and taboo about suicide in a number of ways, the most powerful way is our prevention & training courses delivered across the Island to many walks of life.
We take the view that every suicide is preventable and we encourage people to reach out to us if they or they know someone who are at risk of ending their life by suicide.
To date (at time of going to press) we have carried out the following
Interventions: 55
Lives Saved: 55
Prevention Training: 60
Web chat users: 1071
Tina Lewis works for in Primary Care Mental Health and says:
“SPIIOW are an absolute god send for my patients. I work within the Primary Care Mental Health Team as an Employment Advisor and we regularly see patients who are feeling suicidal for varying reasons.
As a team, not only have we been lucky enough to receive excellent training skills from SPI to enable us to deal with these situations, but we also know we can pass on their contact details to our patients so when they are feeling suicidal they can contact SPIIOW 24 hours a day.
Personally I have no doubt that they have saved the lives of patients I have signposted their way in the last couple of months and I know they will continue to do so in the future. They not only do what they do well, but more importantly they care. This is demonstrated in the fact that they will go out of their way any time, day or night, to ensure the safety of our patients.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for the amazing work they do, not only in training situations but in cases of crisis as well. I have no qualms in recommending SPIIOW for any training requirements or for crisis intervention.”
Can you sponsor or donate to SPIIOW?
SPIIOW are looking for sponsors for personal protective equipment for our front line team – We would like to reach a target of £2,000 by the end of December – currently we are at £170 of that £2,000 – the link for this is HERE
Join our team:
To continue the work we do we are looking for people to join our team who share the same desire and determination as the team at SPI, – that is to help prevent suicide across the Isle of Wight by training, education and intervention.
We have a saying here at SPI that you will see across our website and alongside everything we do – that is “It’s better to do something, Than nothing, When doing nothing becomes something” if you have that same vision then please take a look at the roles available on our website.
Someone at risk from Suicide?
If you think or believe that someone you know or have seen someone who is at risk from ending their life from suicide you can make contact with our front line team 24 hours a day in the following ways:
SPI Crisis Number (Suicide Intervention Only)
07519008406 24/7 text or call – This number is only to be used if you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or we have a live 24 hour web chat on our website www.spiiow.org
Anyone interested in learning or joining the on-call from line team can contact SPIIOW at hello@spiiow.org
