The 10th September each year marks World Suicide Prevention Day, providing the opportunity for people, across the globe, to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention. It is an issue close to the hearts of many of our colleagues, which is why today we are proud to announce that from October we will be supporting PAPYRUS as our chosen “Charity of the Year” for the next 12 months.
PAPYRUS is the UK national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide. Suicide is the biggest killer of young people – male and female – under 35 in the UK. Every year many thousands more attempt or contemplate suicide, harm themselves or suffer alone, afraid to speak openly about how they are feeling.
We have a range of activity planned across the company over the next 12 months to both raise awareness and fundraising for PAPYRUS, to support the charity towards it’s vision for a society which speaks openly about suicide and has the resources to help young people who may have suicidal thoughts.
Ged Flynn, Chief Executive of PAPYRUS, said:
“Vulnerable young people need to know they are not alone and that support is available. They need help to enable them to be themselves and to show how they feel. We all need to work together to find and share new ways of enabling them to do that.
Our partnership with GatenbySanderson could help to pay for potentially life-saving calls, texts or emails to our HOPELINEUK service, support the awareness training we offer, assist our work engaging with young people in local communities, help our volunteers and continue giving hope to a young person who is struggling with life.”
Kevin Gordon, Chief Executive at GatenbySanderson, said:
“Supporting wellbeing and mental health within the workplace has been a key priority for GatenbySanderson, enshrined in ‘making GS a great place to work’, and never more so than during the recent months of the Covid-19 pandemic and the feeling of isolation it has meant for many. I hope that our partnership with PAPYRUS will help raise awareness within our organisation, and with our clients, about this important work to support, equip and influence young people struggling with life. Over the next 12 months, through training sessions delivered by PAPYRUS, we will build further mental health support and capability amongst our own people by better equipping them with the skills to understand, spot the signs and support anyone who may be considering ending their life”.
To find out more about PAPYRUS and the support they provide please visit their website: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/