REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF SUICIDOLOGY’S 14TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF SUICIDOLOGY’S 14TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE “DELIBERATE SELF HARM”
Dia dhíbh go léir a chairde. Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócáid speisialta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus an fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham. My thanks to Dr. John Connolly for the invitation to join you at this the fourteenth Annual Conference of the Association.
In the fourteen years since the foundation of the Irish Association of Suicidology, as you have gathered at each successive annual conference, the true story of suicide in Ireland has, thanks to you, revealed a little more of itself. You have involved yourselves in the difficult tasks of peeling back the tight-packed layers of taboo, forensically examining the facts through scholarly research, engaging with groups and individuals who have a unique professional or personal insight into suicide, educating the public on prevention and post-vention strategies, guiding fresh policy initiatives aimed at prevention and a host of other important things which allow us to acknowledge that this issue is on the national agenda now in a way that it was not when you started.
Today, thanks to your advocacy we can no longer deny the harsh reality that suicide, attempted suicide and self-harming behavior are a serious public health problem. We know that some groups are particularly vulnerable and there is no doubt that youth suicide in particular leaves a legacy of colossal loss but in truth you are helping all of us to come to terms with the fact that suicide and suicidal behaviour is not confined to one age group or gender and wherever it manifests itself it is an indicator of someone who has run out or thinks they have run out of coping skills and options.
As you unpack the full story of suicide you are discovering like Thales that you do not step in the same river twice or indeed as his pupil remarked, you do not step in the same river once. You are dealing with a complex phenomenon and one-size-fits-all solutions are no solutions at all, which is why a broad spectrum, cross-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach is so essential if we are to have any reasonable chance of reducing the suicide and self-harm statistics.
The river of our lives has changed its course very dramatically with the recent sudden economic retrenchment and of course we all know anecdotally and experientially the new levels of personal stress and anxiety these tough times have provoked. Financial pressures, unemployment, poor employment prospects do not create a healthy human backdrop and sadly, the observed evidence coming from front-line workers in hospitals, support services and NGOs has now been confirmed by the 2009 statistics showing an increase in the number of deaths by suicide.
As we try to understand and analyse the processes which lead to these sad statistics and as we try to take an integrated and inclusive approach nonetheless it makes sense to do what you are doing here, to concentrate the focus of this conference on one very specific element – deliberate self-harm - so that it can be illuminated strongly with many lights fully cast on it rather than seeing it in the weaker light reflected from a discussion focused elsewhere. Why this focus? Because research has shown that self-harm is one of the most significant risk factors associated with suicide, with those who engage in self harm twenty times more likely to eventually die by suicide. So the light cast on this issue illumines our insight into suicide and gives us a very real opportunity to engage with people who are self-harming and to help devise more customised and effective strategies to guide them away from the risk of suicide.
Since 2005, the National Office for Suicide Prevention has made additional resources available to put in place experienced psychiatric nursing staff in emergency departments to respond to deliberate self-harm presentations. A target for the reduction of self-harm has been introduced and this conference is an important sign of our collective determination to work collaboratively, build best practice, guide good solutions and make a measureable difference in the incidence of this very worrying behaviour.
A big area of concentration has to be on the promotion of a positive mental health culture and a willingness to access help. Mental health is not a subject we have yet acquired the vocabulary or comfort level to deal with easily among friends or family or work colleagues. Recent campaigns like ‘Let Someone Know’, the national online campaign aimed at younger people is about the business of filling those evident gaps in ways that are meaningful, encouraging and non-judgmental. Our second level schools’ more proactive engagement with issues to do with human sexuality and in particular homosexuality holds a special key in this regard for we have to acknowledge that past unscientific and ignorant attitudes to homosexuality drove many young people into a place of appalling self-doubt and isolation making them as a group particularly vulnerable to suicidal behavior.
The mass of information gleaned from the Ryan and Murphy reports has shown us just how difficult it is to permeate in time, the hermetically sealed world of a frightened and bullied child where toxic experiences hollow out their self-confidence, doing horrendous damage in terms of mental ill-health, substance abuse and lives mired in underachievement. Greater scrutiny and accountability, greater preparedness and skills for all who engrave on our childrens’ lives whether as parents, family members, teachers, professionals or community are all crucial to a growing culture of positive mental health.
Our Proclamation of 1916 pledges each one of us to create a republic which cherishes its children equally and so when we gather at this conference to debate self-harming behavior it is with a profound sense of responsibility towards those of our citizens, who whether as children or adults fall through life’s many gaps and traps into that chaotic world where self-harm becomes a fact of their lives and an often furtive way of life.
You are people who have chosen to stand in those gaps – as bridges, as safety nets, as guides, as sources of hope and the task you have undertaken is so large that it needs a lot of people to commit to the work, all working fluently across a range of areas to promote positive mental health and turn the tide of self-harm leading to suicide. Initiatives like the ‘Media Guidelines for Reporting Suicide and Self-Harm’ and ‘The National Stigma Reduction Campaign’ have highlighted the power of language in suicide prevention whether it is in increased sensitivity in media reporting of suicide and self-harm or breaking down the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health problems or ending the callous stereotypes applied to certain groups because of their colour, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, gender. Greater understanding of the power of language to mess up lives is crucial.
You’ve already heard some very valuable contributions here today from researchers, service providers and service users. I particularly want to acknowledge and thank those who spoke about their personal experiences. It’s far from easy to get up in front of an audience and speak about the most painful and private experiences from your own life but by speaking so openly and courageously, you have made an enormous contribution to our understanding and to designing supports and help for others. I hope you know how valuable, welcome, weighty and respected your contribution is.
The tag-line for this conference is “sometimes we all hurt – but help is there.” Thank you for being there and thank you for doing your level best to ensure that those contemplating or engaging in self-harm are challenged by the realisation that their behavior is not set in stone, that there is help available and that if they have the courage to access that help there is a good chance they will be introduced to personal coping skills and resources they never thought they had and which will transform their lives from hurt to help, from dark to light. I hope you have gained much from today’s proceeding and wish you well as you return renewed and revitalised to your life-enhancing work. Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh ‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.