There is not one of you reading this article this morning who has avoided the impact of suicide in Ireland. Right across the country, there are empty chairs at kitchen tables; there are bedrooms left preserved and unoccupied; there are football boots and hurls and rolled up club jerseys, reminders of camaraderies lost; there are siblings and parents left decimated, stunned into surviving life, walking around in a daze, never forgetting the pain that sits at the pits of their stomach. They exist and meet the sympathetic eyes of those who try to share their obvious agony.
In every village, there are teams with a familiar jersey that brings back sad memories for teammates; there are mentors who are not there any more. In schools, there are huddled groups silently grieving for someone who did not come back after the holidays, or who lives on only in a facebook page with pictures of happier times. Pictures that shout out ‘you never could tell.’
All around the country, there are people hurting because they have been impacted by suicide. Every week brings more. People flush with the energy of youth lost forever to their families, their friends and their communities. To all of you, my most heartfelt sympathies.
I have known many good people who saw that as their only option. For them, at that moment, they must not have seen any other way of soothing the pain that consumed them. And in that moment, they took a decision that could not be reversed. Their potential and their goodness lost forever.
I have also known many people who have been on the verge of taking their own lives, who felt that life was unbearable, whose fate was changed by a chance remark, a glimmer of hope, and who were able to take a step back and find in life a contentment they never felt was possible.
The impact of suicide on a community can be profound. The community may feel a sense of shock and disbelief, particularly if the person who died seemed to have everything going for them.
There is no doubt that there exists in modern society an immense amount of trauma, heightened by expectation, pressure, finances, feelings of low self-worth. We live in a world where we rush to judgement, a universe of being ‘pass-remarkable.’ Increasingly, we are overwhelmed by many aspects of existence.
This weekend sees the annual Darkness Into Light which helps raise essential funds and enables Pieta to continue providing free of charge suicide prevention, intervention and bereavement support to people of all ages across Ireland.
It is a noble event , which enables many people to get help, to seek solace in community, to enable discussion about how it is ok not to be ok, that life cannot be full of joy all the time. There needs to be more education about why the pursuit of happiness needs to be replaced with the pursuit of contentment.
The last few years have contributed enormously to the pall of trauma and depression that descended across the country. Events like Darkness Into Light enable funds to be raised for the services that will help combat that. How can you help?
Take part in your own way in your nearest event. Choose your own route if you are not near an event. Do it with family and friends or colleagues. Feel the invigorating benefit of the rising sun, signifying that the darkest hour is just before the dawn; that momentary unhappiness can be replaced or followed by the most fantastic light’ that the most insurmountable problems can be drawn into halves, quarters, eighths by the simple act of sharing.
n Connacht in 2022 alone, Pieta delivered over 4,300 hours of free, one-to-one therapy, and helped over 534 clients. The 24/7 crisis helpline supported close to 40 households in Galway bereaved by suicide. Almost 12% of clients in Connacht presenting to Pieta in 2022 were aged between 18-35 years and a further 10% of clients in the same year were under 18 years.
Walking into the sunrise, really is a symbol of hope and doing it with your own community makes it extra special. See darknessintolight.ie for more details.
Do your bit to create a possibility for someone who is struggling to see one at the moment.
