‘Let’s break the taboo and give people hope’ – suicide awareness day being held in Portsmouth this weekend

Let's Get Talking About Suicide is a free event taking place this Saturday at Victoria Park (10am-4pm).

It has been organised by Sarah Mitas, who lost her father Richard Dobson to suicide when she was 13, and Lara Kynvin, who survived a suicide attempt.

The event is taking place to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day, an awareness day that since 2003 has always observed on September 10.

Sarah told The News: “Across the UK, more than 6,000 people die by suicide.

“The effect on families, friends, colleagues and anyone touched by the loss can be a lonely, painful endless grief.

“It leaves unanswered questions and what seems like a hole in the soul.

“If we start to talk about suicide and lose the stigma, we make it an open conversation which makes recovery seem possible.”

She added: “I lost my dad when I was 13 and I’m now 49. Still, to this day, people don’t know what to say to me.

“I felt all the time I was growing up that it was a taboo subject.”

The Let's Get Talking About Suicide will feature “relevant services and groups.

“People can take part in wellbeing, creative and exercise workshops to help lift mood and mind.

“There will also be a chance to pay respects to those who have lost someone will be in the form of creative celebration with music and living memorials.

“It will be a day of coming together and giving hope that no one is alone.

“Having lost my father to suicide, I understand the importance of being able to talk and not define those that have suffered by their deaths, but let them be remembered for the wonderful people they were.

“We need to open conversations up to make the people we've lost lives count and allow others to discuss.

“Let's break the taboo and give hope.

“We want people to say they have thought about taking their own life. We can offer support and advice. Recovery is possible.

“I don’t think people understand just how many groups are out there that can offer support, where they can find help before it’s too late.”

Visitors to Saturday’s event are invited to bring along photos and messages of the loved ones they have lost to suicide, to put up in a memorial tent.

“It will be a visual reminder of how many people we are losing,” Sarah added.

Portsmouth City Council leader, Cllr Steve Pitt, said: "Suicide is something that tragically touches the lives of too many people in our community.

"This event offers an invaluable opportunity to learn more, understand more, commemorate and celebrate those who we have lost.

"Only by talking about suicide and removing the stigma, can we hope to catch others before they fall."

Office for National Statistics figures show there were 56 deaths from suicide registered in Portsmouth between the start of 2019 and the end of 2021.

Sadly, that equates to an average of one death every 20 days.

There were 5,583 suicides registered nationally in 2021, equivalent to a rate of 10.7 deaths per 100,000 people – up from 10.0 in 2020, but roughly in line with pre-pandemic levels of 11 in 2019 and 10.5 in 2018.

Those figures only include registrations in 2021, meaning they could include deaths that occurred in 2020 but were registered the following year due to disruption to coroners' inquests caused by the pandemic.