From the 9th to the 13th September, organisations, people and communities in Essex are lighting up buildings and landmarks green, as part of the ‘Creating hope through light’ event.
The ‘Creating hope through light’ week-long event, hopes to raise awareness of suicide prevention and challenge Essex residents to take the suicide prevention training, which can be accessed on www.letstalkaboutsuicide.co.uk.
It’s a joint initiative from Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System and Thurrock and Brentwood Mind and is part of their #LetsTalkAboutSuicide campaign. It aims at reducing the stigma around talking about suicide and encourages people to take the free online suicide prevention training, as well as highlight the other mental health resources available in mid and south Essex.
The suicide prevention training focuses on three key elements See, Say, Signpost. See the problem, Say the words, Signpost to support and it gives people the knowledge and the confidence to talk to someone who might be at risk of or thinking about suicide.
Locations that will be lit up include:
- South East and Central Essex Mind
- Southend Hospital
- Southend City Beach
- Porters, Southend on Sea
- Civic Centre, Southend
as well as several other venues throughout wider Essex.
People can also take part by joining the social media campaign on #CreatingHopeThroughLightEssex, as well as upload personal messages and videos using the campaign resources available on the Let's Talk About Suicide Essex website. You can also follow the campaigns on Instagram @talksuicideessex, Threads @talksuicidessex and Facebook @letstalkaboutsuicideessex.