While the world marked World Suicide Prevention Day on Wednesday 10 September, for Jami, the mental health service for the Jewish community and part of Jewish Care, preventing suicide in the community and educating people around the subject are a priority every single day of the year.
The charity’s mental health practitioners are often first responders when it comes to people going through a mental health crisis. They are also the same individuals who will accompany our service users to hospital and stay with them until they are safely admitted.
Sophia, a senior peer support worker and peer support co-lead at Jami, who has lived experience of mental illness and distress, says, “As a peer support worker at Jami, I often walk alongside people in their darkest moments. When someone is suicidal, I believe it’s so important that they feel a compassionate presence. For me, it’s about being there, showing care in practical and creative ways, and letting people know they don’t have to face these moments alone. These moments aren’t about fixing or taking away someone’s pain, but about standing alongside them and showing that they are cared for and not alone.
“World Suicide Prevention Day is a reminder that connection, compassion, and presence matter. Sometimes the smallest acts – showing up, listening, spending time – can become lifelines.”
Based on Jami’s consultation and research with community members, the charity will be launching a new community suicide prevention programme for communal lay and spiritual leaders and motivated community members, early next year. It has been designed to reflect the community’s sensitivities and needs and will also cover postvention – the actions Jami takes to support the community after a suicide. A panel of community champions with lived experience has guided the process of creating the new course and Jami is working with Middlesex University to evaluate the process.
This new community suicide prevention programme was among the topics that were discussed with MPs when Jami was invited by the Jewish Leadership Council to hold a parliamentary drop-in at Portcullis House, hosted by Liz Twist, MP for Blaydon and Consett, to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day. MPs including David Pinto-Duschinsky, MP for Hendon; Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East, as well as those from further afield, such as Jim Shannon, Democratic Unionist Party MP for Strangford; and Mary Glindon, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, together with House of Lords member Baroness Lucianna Berger, were among those parliamentarians who gained an appreciation of how challenging mental illness and distress can be, and who heard from Jami’s community champion, John, about his lived experience. John told them, “When I woke up in the hospital, I saw all my family and friends around me, and it was very humbling to realise I meant a lot to people. The way Jami supported me made me feel understood and appreciated. They have changed my life.”
In addition to the peer support that John received from Jami, he also attended a group for those living with mental illness and distress at Head Room, Jami’s social enterprise café, supported by The Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation. John explained, “There were people there from all walks of life, but we just clicked. I listened to how people were struggling the way I was, and I felt normal. Everyone was going through the same issues, and they wanted to help. I came away from there feeling six-foot tall.”
Louise Kermode, director of community mental health services (Jami), told MPs, “There’s a degree of empathy and understanding at Head Room. People don’t need a mental health assessment to go there. Anyone can join one of the groups or speak to a community befriender at the café. It gives people a sense of purpose and a role. The other services that we offer are also modelled around peer and mutual support. But it all has to start with someone reaching out for help. We want to reach people before they reach the hospital stage.”
Philippa Carr, senior mental health education and suicide prevention manager, explained, “We always provide signposting in the media so that people know where to go for support. She also stressed to MPs that when we talk about suicidal thoughts and plans, we must also talk about mental health and how, for many people, mental illness is part of these really difficult times. To ignore this, she shared, turns the clock back on the conversation about mental health and may increase stigma rather than reduce it.
In response to hearing about Jami’s services and Head Room, Tim Myers, MP for Middlesbrough and East Cleveland, said, “We need to get something like this in the North East.”
If you need help or are supporting someone else, visit jamiuk.org/get-support or call 020 8458 2223
For 24/7 support:
Samaritans – Call 116 123
SHOUT – Text Jami to 85258
Listening Place
Visit https://listeningplace.org.uk or call 020 3906 7676
Andy’s Man Club
www.andysmanclub.co.uk/
James’s Place
www.jamesplace.org.uk/