Survivors Society: "If I had committed suicide, I would have lost my new life"
Society How to help a person who has thought about killing himself: what are the red flags?
What should we never do?
The street, at least the one that connects the power of the central state and that of the autonomous state, screams against suicide. From the Paseo de Recoletos that lights the navel of the
Ministry of Health
to the Puerta del Sol that guards the marrow of the
Community of Madrid
, a few hundred people have walked, talked, sung and shouted through the Carrera de San Jerónimo to ask those who order that they put wills, commitments, professionals and money in the
prevention of suicide
.
The blame for this collective and external clamor against this personal and internal decision lies with several groups that have been determined for years to lower the death figures: 10 people commit suicide a day. After so long fighting from psychology, medicine, social work, social networks or traditional media, the
Stop Suicides
platform
and the
La Barandilla
association
(along with a bunch of other groups that work in mental health) They have managed to present hundreds of thousands of signatures to call for a suicide prevention plan and bring together almost a thousand people from the street and some politicians from the carpets in a demonstration by the aortic arteries of Madrid.
All the personal and political demands of the demonstration could fit in the final speech, megaphone in hand, of the Stop Suicide coordinator, who has more than 300,000 signatures on
change.org
to ask Health for "urgent measures" of prevention. His name is
Román Reyes
and he experienced
his mother's suicide
as an announced death after so many brief admissions and deficiencies in the health monitoring system. "Enough of the fact that the lives of those who commit suicide are worth less than those of other struggles that do have aid. This is the responsibility of
the central government
and the
autonomous communities
. I meet with the Ministry and make excuses. Time is urgent, just They tell us about coronavirus. I met with
[Salvador] Illa
and he told me about Europe. Why don't we match Europe in the ratio of psychologists per inhabitant? Why aren't there more PIR [Resident Internal Psychologist] places? A psychiatrist tells me that they pressure her to release hospital beds. There is no right! Do not hide if someone dies by suicide. Say it, it's not a shame. We receive thousands of stories on
#yonomecallo
.
Are they second-rate deaths?
".
Several parties have walked together, although with a very different level of representation.
Citizens
and
More Country
have contributed protagonists of their national leadership.
PSOE
,
PP
and
Vox
have provided a local or regional step. And all have participated in a demonstration that demands a measure that concerns them: the approval of a
suicide prevention plan
.
That means more
health personnel in the public system
, more
awareness campaigns
, more
education
... Or as the march manifesto asks: "Specific prevention actions for young people, the elderly, State Security Forces and the most vulnerable groups, especially people with mental health problems. We ask
for
specialized
Primary Care
for early detection and
emotional education in schools
with adequate teacher training. "
One of the most recognizable political faces has been that of
Iñigo Errejón
, the protagonist last spring of an already historic intervention in the Congress of Deputies to demand immediate action against suicide, which was answered by another politician with that unforgettable: "Go to the doctor!". The leader of Más País walked with the leader of Más Madrid,
Mónica García
, a doctor who knows the health system. Errejón: "Suicide is a massive pain that was lived with shame. Not now. Now it is a clamor that has reached the streets and should be a
political priority
. Suicide is a failure as a society. We must break the
taboo
and go one step further: make public policies to prevent it.
It is not a question of parties, it is a cross-cutting issue. "
-Okay, but what does politics do for it?
-We must approve specific measures.
The longer the government and regional administrations take, the more pain there will be.
The spokesman for Ciudadanos in Congress,
Edmundo Bal
, has gathered a swarm of journalists shortly before starting the march. The summary of his forceful words was made by himself at the end: "
Solidarity
with those who have suffered this problem closely,
visibility
and
solutions
." Bal has asked for a prevention plan and a mental health strategy and recalled the legislative initiative that Ciudadanos presented a long time ago. "I read on the banners what we asked: more professionals in Primary Care, at least one psychologist for every 5,000 inhabitants; specific training in educational centers, prisons, minors or CIES, and that psychological care is in the portfolio of services of the
Social Security
. I demand solutions from the Ministry of Health. Do not drag your feet and put the batteries ".
At his side was the doctor
Amparo Botejara
, head of Health at
Podemos
. "The plans and strategies are very good, but they have not been of any use. They have not solved or reduced the problem of suicide. The key is a
Mental Health law
, legislation that forces administrations to increase resources and coordinate them. We We presented it in February 2019 and we presented it again yesterday. The identification of people at risk is abandoned in Spain. Mental health is a deteriorated and precarious area. And it is urgent. The shelves of the autonomous communities and the Ministry are full of very nice plans and strategies, but they are useless. "
-Okay, but in February 2019 you were not in the Government and now you are.
What are they going to do to make that happen?
-The Ministry is thinking of a Strategy, one more.
But nothing can solve the problem because
plans and strategies are not binding
.
You have to make a law.
Javier Guardiola
is the head of the
Socialist Youth of Madrid
and deputy in the
Assembly of the Community of Madrid
.
The demonstration has been passed away from the head and the lights.
"This goes beyond political parties. It is something that we all live. I do not point to one party or another, we must act at all levels: state and autonomous. Because
the cause is the model of life
. There is no affective education- emotionally, there is no prevention of addictions, sell yourself to young people a reality that is a lie ... Something is wrong as a society ".
Coaches from Andalusia, La Rioja, the Basque Country or Aragon had arrived in Madrid early in the morning with people sensitized by this death before the time.
Sensitized just because.
Or because they tried that death in their day.
Or because they are relatives of others who committed suicide.
"My mother committed suicide on October 24, 2020 after two previous attempts. Once she was admitted one day and another, 15. The third time we went to a private center, but she went in and out. And in one of those exits she she committed suicide. My brother and I had to act as police, watching her day and night.
She had been on antidepressants for 20 years
and took six pills a day. I am still in shock. "
Her name is
Laura Pérez
and her mother, Laura, was 46 years old.
Today Laura and Carlos star in a campaign on
change.org
demanding
a free, three-digit telephone number against public suicide
.
They carry more than 95,000 signatures.
Arriving at Puerta del Sol we see a woman crying. It's
Mariló
, from Badajoz. He has had a major depression for 10 years. And
three weeks ago he attempted suicide
. But today she has had the strength to get out of bed and come to not feel strange or alone. "I have seen myself as the mother of Román Reyes. I also have two children and I have seen the suffering on their faces if I commit suicide.
Depression
is an invisible disease that, sometimes, not even the sick themselves see. I can afford a private clinic, but many other people cannot. And I know about their suffering. If one day I get cured I would like to write something to give them light. We don't want to die, we want to stop suffering. "
The street against suicide is well summed up by a phrase from the manifesto read at the end of the march by the actor
Javier Martín
, someone who was committed suicide many times: "How many thousands more deaths do we need in Spain so that our leaders and society start working together to play down this public health drama? "
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