Local data has showed that from 2015 to 2021 the island’s suicide rate more than doubled, and between 2022 to 2024 three-quarters of all suicides on the island were men. In an overarching mission to get mental health talked about, Men’s Shed and Guernsey Bereavement Service have invited Caroline Roodhouse, a best-selling author, keynote speaker and an advocate of postvention, an organised response in the aftermath of a suicide, to host a seminar at Les Cotils at 3pm tomorrow.
By sharing her experience of going from a family unit of four to suddenly that of three, after the shock suicide of her husband seven years ago, Mrs Roodhouse hopes to help islanders better understand the impact of suicide, reduce stigma, and develop the confidence to have conversations that many people struggle to start.
‘If anyone has seen After Life with Ricky Gervais, and the scene where he’s about to take his life, but his dog, Brandy starts barking, so he stops to feed her, and then doesn’t take his life that day,’ she said, ‘I like to think of myself as Brandy – just barking at people to say “don’t do it” and remind them that there are people who will miss them if they’re not here.
‘Let someone help you to stop being sad. It’s hard to define any one main message of my talk, as it depends who’s listening and what they take away from it.
‘When I published my book Daddy Blackbird three years ago, I had lots of women say to me, “thank you for being so honest”, and that it made them feel less alone through their grief. But I would also get men privately message me, to say that they were considering taking their own life, but having read my story, and hearing the impact both on me, but particularly on my daughters – they’re not going to do it.
‘People tell me they carry my book around as a reminder not to die. That’s so powerful. But I will also be talking about the British Standard I’ve helped set up, that aims to equip workplaces with tools to help suicide prevention, or how to treat those impacted, to ensure that these people struggling feel more supported and heard in their everyday life.
‘I want to show everyone that it’s simple to talk about this without it needing to be too heavy, or too scary. Without worrying what the correct response needs to be. This is a conversation that we can’t keep hiding from.’
Tickets for Mrs Roodhouse’s talk tomorrow are available at www.islandtickethut.com/.../seminar-on-suicide....
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