"Suicide is painless..."

M*A*S*H had an intro song at the start of their program which said "...suicide is painless / it brings on many changes / and I can take or leave it if I please..." This program was set up as a comedy of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korea war many years ago. It started in 1972 and went until 1983 and was based on the 1970 film.

In February 1996 the Australian Institute of Criminology printed an information pdf which said "...suicide is a major social and public health problem in Australia. Since1990, suicide has become more common than motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death for Australian men." 

At the beginning of January this year, 2016, Damien Little drove himself and his two very young sons (Koda, 4 and Hunter, 1) off the wharf at Port Lincoln, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, and into 30 metres of water. It sounded like, from news articles with the family, that in the 2-3 years before this Damien had dropped into mental health problems, but no real change within his mind seemed to stuck with the family. 

Yes, they had noticed “a change”, but “you can't help somebody who can't help himself”, they said. 

The Sydney Morning Herald, SBS, the Australian and Daily Mail in UK  and many others printed articles about this, but they didn't really publish just about suicides. 

Suicide thoughts have entered the minds of far too many throughout Australia. 

• Lifeline, in Hunter, on 30 December 2015, reported the increase of their calls – up to 1,000 per week – just after Christmas. 
• Lifeline’s national website includes statistics.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) on ABC on 17 December 2015 said that the season across Christmas and new year often leads to increased suicides.  
• Aboriginal website Creative Spirits said on 29 December 2015 “Appalling living conditions and past traumas have led to a suicide rate that by far exceeds that of non-Aboriginal people.” 
• On 30 November 2015, just 3 weeks before Christmas, 600 refugees in Manu Island signed a letter to PM Turnbull asking him to approve suicide.
• The Australian Psychological Society published “Insight into men’s suicide” in their InPsych magazine in 2012. That information should have been known by people who were thinking of suicide.
• On 29 December in 2011 UniSA chairman of mental health, Nicholas Procter, said “"International evidence indicates there are fewer suicide attempts than expected before Christmas and nearly 40 per cent more than expected after, especially on New Year's Day," and “self harm and suicide were more likely to occur in the new year, but more research about why was needed. 
• Wikipaedia said that “In Australia 48% of all suicides in 2000 were by 35- to 64-year-olds”. In 2013 2,522 suicides were recorded.
• Mindframe reports on “Facts and stats about suicide in Australia” on their website. There is a pdf file to download. 

ABC reported back in June 2015 about the potential to halve the suicide rate in 5 years if Australia used something similar to a recommended European program. Professor Helen Christensen from Black Dog said: "If we can pull together all community and health organisations to deliver evidence-based strategies at the same time, in the same location, then we have a good chance of reducing [suicide] rates in Australia by as much as 30 to 50 per cent, within four to five years." 

The National Coalition for Suicide Prevention started sometime back in 2014 (no date on their website) and has 33 organisations attached. On 3 December 2015 ABC reported: “A private donor will give a massive $14.7 million to fund Australia's first evidence-based suicide prevention programs, to be run by the Black Dog Institute.” Black Dog doesn’t sound like it’s connected to NCSP – will it still be good? 

NCSP, Black Dog Institute and any other suicide contact might be doing a lot of work, but it doesn’t sound like they were involved in Damien Little’s mental health problems. Perhaps they didn’t know about him. These organisations, and others, are the safety zone for any person who thinks suicide. Don’t ever just “notice” a change, especially if it has been going on for 2-3 years. 

Help that person. Call any suicide contact for help. Don’t trigger “Vale” in your own name.