Our vision is to help drive a reduction in suicide rates by working with organisations, charities, individuals and communities, offering support, guidance & empowerment to those in need, or in crisis, whilst reducing the shame, stigma and silence that is all too prevalent in society

WE WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY OUR PART IN AIMING TO REDUCE SUICIDE RATES ACROSS THE UK

2023 will be a year of significant progression and change for SOS. We have very ambitious and exciting plans that will affect everyone we support for the better.

We have a new investing partner coming on board, and we will also be opening our first ever SOS Hub – a place of safety and company for anyone who’s vulnerable.We’ll be expanding into local communities, aiming to work with displaced and disadvantaged people, as well as turning our standard rate phone line into a freephone number. That, along with bespoke training courses unique to SOS and our desire to increase our phone line hours along with our free face to face meetings means there should be a type of support to suit everyone.

Please check this website for updates in the New Year.

Charities are doing an amazing job supporting as many people as possible. But with stretched resources and clinical expertise and resources not necessarily available within charities, it is essential that access to the right NHS services which offer continuity and consistency have increased funding and staffing.

More money needs to be allocated towards mental health; not just that, it’s important that the right, fully trained and dedicated clinicians are available to those who need them.

Waiting lists are currently too long and for some, too late. Poor mental health and feelings of suicide do not go away over night and patients deserve help when they need it, not when the system decides to give them long overdue access.

This country should, and could, be doing much better in the adequate provision of mental health care

Get behind your local, smaller charities who are struggling to support increasing numbers of vulnerable children and adults due to the lack of appropriate services and the ‘heat or eat’ crisis currently hitting huge numbers of people and families throughout the UK

Every day at SOS we are contacted by people who are struggling, those who are bereaved and those who have been waiting for the appropriate assessment and care for far too long. For some, access to care comes too late.

This is not a criticism of those who work within the NHS – they work tirelessly and often without thanks doing one of the most demanding jobs there is. But just like the population, they are tired. We are all tired of the failures to address and implement proper care within the NHS system. Mental health is just one of the areas of concern, but it appears to be one of the least invested in, as always, the one that ‘can wait’. The structure is broken.

Luckily, charities are here to help support people let down by the system, people who feel they have nowhere to turn, who need help because there problems are too large and complex to handle by themselves.

We want to hear your stories, particularly if you feel you have been let down, forgotten abandoned or not treated with the level of compassion and humanity you deserve.

Our aim is to put a collection together that can be utilised to put pressure on Government and NHS Trusts to put mental health patients at least on an equal footing to other patients. People talking about their lived experiences, whether they are in the past or ongoing, whether it’s about themselves or someone they know, all of these experiences are important and should be catalogued.

If you’d like to help with our project, please email in the strictest confidence to contact@sossilenceofsuicide.org and we will get back to you.

How much was mental health support and provision mentioned in the budget, and, more importantly, how much, and when, has any additional funding going to find its way into service delivery for the vulnerable?

SOS, like many others welcome the injection of £100 million for the VCSE sector and, to allow the VCSEs to remain active in suicide prevention, an extra £10million pounds will be provided over the next 2 years.

Chronic underfunding relating to mental health services has to stop. Now.  We welcome positive action, but warn about complacency that £100 million will be enough.  It will not.  It pours into a bottomless pit and we need to do better to support vulnerable children and adults when need  it.

As far as helping those with a disability, or physical or mental health challenges, there are positive attempts to address some of the issues.  However, this cannot be applied wholemeal.  Everyone’s disability or mental/physical health challenge and status is unique to them.  One size does not fit all.

Furthermore, the work coaches available at job centres for people to speak too, should also be replicated in work places as an additional, and continuous line of support for those who need it.  It will also help employers who may struggle to understand certain disabilities or mental health challenges and behaviours.

Read all about mental health and the Spring Budget by reading the Disability White Paper

You might also want to take a look at facts and figures on the NHS Mental Health Board

Finally, you can read about personal health budgets which contains useful information

We wrote not long ago about the need for a philanthropic revolution and given the huge black holes in medical provision, continuous professional care and access to immediate care, now really is the time for philanthropists to come to the rescue so people really can get the quality of care they need, when they need it, not after waiting for months or sometimes years.