I'm walking to remember those lost to suicide and help people in crisis

Over 700,000 people take their own life each year – that’s one person every 40 seconds. It takes 120 seconds to make microwave rice, to put things into perspective. 

Lifeline receives over 1 million contacts from people in crisis each year, in Australia. In the ABS 2022 data it was reported that suicide is a leading cause of premature death accounting for the highest number of potential years of life lost. People who died by suicide had a median age at death of 45.6. In 2023(75.6%) of people who died by suicide were male in Australia. Deaths due to suicide were the highest ranked external cause of death in males, yet in the years of 2020-202 21.6% of females saw a health professional for their mental health, compared with 12.9% of males. 

For my friends and family back home: In the UK 15% of women receive treatment for depression, compared to only 9% of men yet 115 people die by suicide in the UK every week – with 75% of those deaths being male. In women evidence shows that 53% of women who have mental health problems have also experienced abuse. In addition, 1 in 20 women who typically have periods (not all women get periods for a number of reasons) experience PMDD, a severe form of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) that occurs a week or two before a woman’s period, often making day-to-day life a struggle.

It is common knowledge that the rise in the cost of living crisis and mental health increase is linked. Mind (UK) found that one in five (20%) people report worsening depression because of the cost of living, and one in ten (10%) developing disordered eating as a result. Many work places are acknowledging this and incorporating financial supports internally, however there are still external supports such as https://maps.org.uk/en# available to help support financial wellbeing.

The list is endless of the socioeconomic, biological and psychological factors which could tribute to poor mental health and the end result in suicide. It is important to know, although there may be a certain demographic which may be more susceptible to suicidal ideation, it can impact ANYONE at anytime.

In conclusion! Me and Joe will be walking 50kms this year to help raise money for the wonderful charity Lifeline and if we can even help 1 person with this walk that’s 1 more person saved.