In August 2016, about 7.3 per cent of the calls made to the suicide hotline Lifeline were from people who were considered to be at a high risk for suicide. Today—within a eight-month period—that number has risen to 73 per cent, which means that seven out of the ten calls received by Lifeline are from people who have seriously contemplated suicide.
From an average of 2,400 calls within the last eight months, 1,752 of those people were contemplating suicide.
These figures were revealed by Lifeline’s Chairman Lucretia Gabriel in an interview with the Sunday Guardian on Thursday.
The interview took place at Gabriel’s home in order to protect the confidentiality of the organisation. People who are not affiliated with Lifeline are not encouraged to know where the centre is located, or even who are the voices answering the calls and providing an ear for those who need.
Lifeline gets approximately 3,650 calls per year, with an average of ten calls per day. Lifeline does not track the number of suicides, just the number of calls. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) which previously tracked suicide rates has not done so in over five years, with its latest indicator being January 2008 at 199 suicides. However, as part of World Mental Health day 2016, Psych Corner TT had received data from the Forensic Science Centre that over 70 people had died as a result of suicide between January and November last year. Out of that figure, 91 per cent were men.
In some cases, relatives linked suicide to job loss and financial problems as in the case of retrenched former Centrin worker David Francis who died as a result of suicide in April 2016.
In other cases, relatives blamed relationship problems as in the case of 51-year-old Mootilal Rattansingh who drank poison after forcing his 11-year-old son to also drink the substance. Relatives said Rattansingh was grieving after his wife left him.
According to Gabriel, Lifeline deals with more than just people contemplating suicide, “People don’t only call to say they are suicidal. Some people call and they want to talk about job loss or rape or their depression and we listen to them, but recently more people are calling to talk about their feelings to attempt suicide.”
She said the high-risk group for suicides was aged 15 to 29 and that since 1955 in T&T, there have been two suicides per year in the age group five to 14.
“That 15 to 29 age group dominates violence in this country, whether it’s violence to self or violence to others,” Gabriel said during the interview. She said more women attempt suicide but more men die as a result of a suicide attempt.
Lifeline struggles
Gabriel was one of ten people who set up Lifeline in 1976 after getting advice from the founder of the Samaritan’s organisation in the UK, Chad Varra, an Anglican priest. Varra set up Lifeline after officiating at his first funeral service in which a 14-year-old girl died after attempting suicide because she had begun to menstruate and feared she had a sexually transmitted disease.
Varra agreed to come to Trinidad during a scheduled trip to South America and advised the group to get started.
“We had no phone but when we discussed the challenges with Varra, including having no telephone in those days, he said the most important thing was for the group to get started and things would work out.”
They announced their first preparation class in November 1977 and so the group got started—ten listeners with a borrowed phone. In June 1978, the group began listening, using a phone in a friend’s office. “We actually didn’t get a phone till 1985.” That phone number was and still is 645-2800. It’s a number familiar only to those who have considered self-harm.
The number of calls have changed since Lifeline’s phone first started ringing, but the principles remain the same, confidentiality being a high priority and getting by on the limited resources available.
Govt gives 6 cents for every dollar needed
Lifeline isn’t a well-funded NGO. The group requests 16 cents for every dollar needed to run the organisation from the Government. Government, however, only gives them six cents for every dollar.
“The private sector gives zero cents, so we work with what we are given and we stretch what we have.”
Stretching resources, both human and financial, is one way the organisation is able to declare its decision to be available 24 hours for calls, starting tomorrow.
Gabriel said one of the main aims of Lifeline was that the services should be well-known so that no one could contemplate suicide without knowing about Lifeline. Another is to be as discreet and confidential as possible.
“Our calls are anonymous. We don’t record calls. We don’t keep numbers. We don’t divulge information, even after death. People who are suicidal don’t want people to know their business.
“Being a listener is simply being the person at the end of the line, being prepared for a call that could last from one minute to four hours.
“Each person listens for about five to six hours per week plus one overnight per month. We get calls from people who are high risk in suicide now and those who are along that spectrum. Sometimes people call and hang up.”
Gabriel said sometimes a deterrent to calling may be phone charges as Lifeline is not a toll-free number.
“Our calls are not free. People have to pay for it, so they tend to think about it before they call.”
To go toll free would cost the NGO $426,000 annually using TSTT rates, but the organisation is for the most part self-funded.
“We work with what we have. We don’t have the money to do a lot of what we want to do but we work with whatever we had. In 1977 when we didn’t have our own phone, we still took calls. We cannot wait for things to get in place before starting so we just start.”
March 2017:
Engineering student,
Levi Caesar;
September 2016:
Mootilal Rattansingh 51;
Retrenched worker
David Francis 48,
Student Faith Gajadhar, 15,
January 2016:
Student Aleisha Brigeman, 17
WARNING SIGNS OF SUICIDE
• Talking about wanting to die
• Looking for a way to kill oneself
• Talking about feeling trapped or unbearable pain
• Talking about being a burden to others
• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs
• Acting anxious, agitated or recklessly
• Sleeping too little or too much
• Withdrawing or feeling isolated.
• Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
• Displaying extreme mood swings
The more of these signs a person shows, the greater the risk. These warning signs are associated with suicide but may not be what causes a suicide.
What to do
If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide:
• Do not leave that person alone.
• Remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or snap objects that could be used in a suicide attempt
• Call Lifeline at 645-2800 or email life@lifelinett.com
• Seek help from a medical practitioner or mental health professional.
To volunteer with Lifeline
Email: life@lifelinett.com or call 645-2800
