U Can Cope - World Suicide Prevention Day 2012 Campaign

Embargoed until 31 July 2012

Open Minds Alliance CIC, Samaritans, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Southwick Media Consultancy are leading the U Can Cope multimedia multiagency media campaign to support and promote the 2012 World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) on 10 September. The theme of the 2012 WSPD is ‘Strengthening Protective Factors and Instilling Hope’.

To this end, we have commissioned a film entitled U Can Cope which will be released on Monday 10 September. The film features compelling stories of surviving suicidal thoughts, with commentaries from Dr Alys Cole- King, a leading psychiatrist in the field, and Professor Stephen Platt, an eminent academic in this area who have both worked closely in the production of this powerful and thought-provoking film.

The film will promote 3 main messages:

1.      Anyone can experience suicidal thoughts.
2.      There is always hope.
3.      There is always help.

This resource has the added benefit of being developed by partner agencies engaged with the Call to Action for Suicide Prevention in England and begins to action the identified consensus priority of developing a shared suicide prevention campaign to improve help-seeking behaviours amongst ‘high risk’ groups and the whole population.

We will also be highlighting three new Royal College of Psychiatrists’ resources:

• Feeling on the edge - helping you get through it
• Feeling overwhelmed - helping you stay safe
• U Can Cope – available in August 2012

U Can Cope Charity

The U Can Cope Charity will be set up to fund the development and dissemination of compassionate resources (including web based resources available to all) for people in distress and for those who wish to help them. It will be kindly hosted by the Cronfa Betsi Fund website.

Woman’s Hour

On 26 July, Dr Alys Cole-King joined a discussion on Woman's Hour about self-harm in your people. She gave help-seeking advice and explained where parents and carers can get support. promoting help seeking advice and support for parents or carers.

We are working with over a hundred organisations including academics, voluntary groups, Royal Colleges and other professional bodies on the U Can Cope WSPD campaign, and would be delighted if you would be willing to support the initiative. You can keep up to date by following the campaign on Twitter (@UcanCope) and on the Connecting with People website.

---