Teacher's tragic death inspires suicide awareness campaign

DEPRESSION kills. It’s sad but true – and it tends to flourish in silence. When Barnard Castle cafe owner Emma Rowell saw the story of Matthew Robinson it struck a chord.
An English teacher originally from Bowes, Matthew took his own life in October last year. He was 24.
Ms Rowell says: “I’ve got three boys myself. I thought if that was one of my boys, how could I live?”
Teesdale can be a quiet place at the best of times and it often plays a part in its beauty. But its solitude can come as a mixed blessing.
After offering me a brew, Ms Rowell tells me she wants to use her own mental health experience to make a difference in the dale.
She says: “My background is in mental health and I had a look around to see what there was for it in Barney – it was really difficult to find anything.
“As a health professional I would expect to have a single point of contact in the town but I found it very hard.
“I wondered what it would be like if you contemplated suicide.”
Of course, there are facilities in and around Barnard Castle which do offer help, advice and solace.
One is the SOS (Sufferers, Overcomers and Supporters) cafe on King Street. But its tireless band of volunteers can only work for so long.
Ms Rowell adds: “The SOS cafe do a splendid job – they are a massive help in the dale. But the closest we have got other than them is Newton Aycliffe or Darlington – if you are trying to keep family life and a job going the distance would bring you down even further.”
This is where Ms Rowell thinks she and others can fill the gap through something called a “brief contact intervention”.
She explains: “A brief contact intervention would be as simple as sending a postcard or ringing someone up. The way I’d like to do it is to get as many traders as possible to give them an intervention card.”
These small suicide intervention cards have popped up around the town in shops. They advise shopkeepers and anyone around what to do to help someone in mental strife with an array of handy contact on the back. Ms Rowell adds: “If someone was to approach people taking this initiative up in Barnard Castle and said ‘can I speak to someone’ you can just go through the three steps.
“Research says someone will answer the first question truthfully – they will be outright and give you a black or white yes or no.
“The second part is a question of being there to listen and acknowledge – that might be as much as they need in that moment when they are feeling overwhelmed.
“The third stage is contact someone who can help – we are not expecting traders themselves to be therapists or mental health nurses.”
Before taking on the cafe on Horsemarket, Ms Rowell was the manager of a community service in Stockton, helping people with alcohol dependency. If shopkeepers do have to step in and put the “Good Ask” checklist into practice, the 49-year-old says she will be on hand to help.
“I have got buy-in from some businesses and it’d be great if others just gave me a ring,” she adds.
“I can go in, talk for ten minutes and take them through the intervention.
“Then, if any businesses take part and use ‘Good Ask’, I can debrief the person that was involved so they don’t carry that around with them.”
Statistics from the Samaritans show 12.9 out of 100,000 of 20 to 24 year old men died through suicide in 2014. But the Rural Services Network has pointed to rural occupations – including farming – as having high suicide rates with those who develop mental illness in rural areas seeming less likely to seek treatment compared to people in urban areas.
Similar “Good Ask” intervention schemes have been launched in barbers and businesses down south.
And Ms Rowell explains how staff in hairdressers, pubs and shops could play a vital role as sounding boards in Teesdale with the scheme.
She adds: “These are spaces where people feel safe to talk – they might mention things they want or they might mention things they don’t want to burden their friends or family with. In the dale, rural isolation is a contributory factor so this is a way you can get help. Hopefully it works.”
To find out more about the Barnard Castle “Good Ask” scheme, call Emma Rowell at the No. 15 cafe on 01833 630302.
To donate money to suicide prevention charity, Papyrus, in memory of Matthew Robinson, visit http://bit.ly/2fbRAWb
Are you a young person thinking about suicide, or concerned about a young person? Contact Papyrus by calling 0800 0684141, texting 07786 209697, or emailing pat@papyrus-uk.org
Alternatively, contact the Samaritans on 116123.