Truro Cathedral will once again be holding a special service for people affected by suicide. The service of reflection will be on Sunday the 8th September at 2 p.m. and is for anyone that may have been affected by suicide – those of all faiths or none, you are all welcome. Suicide prevention in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly is vitally important; we have higher than national average rates of suicide, and each and every suicide has a devastating impact on those left behind. There is strong collaboration across partners whose efforts are all targeted at ‘Towards Zero’ suicide, and this is the banner under which a huge amount of our collective work is done. Towards zero is an essential principle of our work, we must never accept deaths by suicide as inevitable.
This event is the outcome of collaboration between Truro Cathedral, Cornwall Council Public Health, Cornwall’s Samaritans, the South West Zero Suicide Collaborative, Outlook South West’s Suicide Liaison Service, and Cruse Bereavement Care. Many of these partners are part of our broader work on suicide prevention which is led by the Council’s Public Health team and is coordinated through a ‘Multi-Agency Suicide Prevention Group’ which brings together all key agencies to support the population of Cornwall & Isles of Scilly all the way from a wellbeing perspective through to crisis care. A key focus of this work is how we can support communities, and there will be an initiative launching in October at the next Towards Zero event which will pilot a new approach to suicide safer communities in Falmouth. For more information, please do sign up for the Towards Zero newsletters at https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-cornwall/towards-zero-suicide-newsletters/
The impact of suicide on our communities cannot be underestimated, but we are all part of this community and we all have a part to play. Please do join us at this service of reflection, and to strengthen our bond as a community.
