Prevention, hope, support

Suicide is the main cause of death in young people under the age of 35 in the UK. Sarah Yates describes the work of a charity dedicated to changing that.

PAPYRUS was founded in 1997 by a mother, Jean Kerr from Lancashire, following the loss of her son to suicide. It was initially set up as the Parents' Association for the Prevention of Young Suicide.

Since 1997, PAPYRUS has continued to listen to and learn from the experiences of those personally touched by young suicide. Today, PAPYRUS works in many ways to prevent young suicide.

PAPYRUS has been a long-standing member of the government advisory groups in England and Wales on suicide prevention matters. We are active members of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group in England and of the National Advisory Group on Suicide Prevention and Self Harm reduction in Wales. Other national bodies that we contribute to are the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and the National Police Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group.

PREVENTION: Many young suicides are preventable.

PASSION: Those who are touched personally by a young suicide have a unique contribution to make to our work.

HOPE: No young person should have to suffer alone with thoughts or feelings of hopelessness and nobody should have to go through the heartbreak of losing a young person to suicide.

LEARNING: There are always lessons to be learned from listening to young people at risk of suicide, those who give them support and those who have lost a young person to suicide.

SUPPORT: We provide confidential support and advice to young people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and anyone who is worried about a young person through our helpline, HOPELINE247.

EQUIP: We involve communities and volunteers in suicide prevention projects and provide training programmes for individuals and groups. This includes equipping local councils, healthcare professionals and school staff with suicide prevention skills.

INFLUENCE: Our aim is to formulate a national social policy and make a significant contribution to the local and regional implementation of national suicide prevention strategies wherever we can. Our campaigning is based on our passion as individuals, parents, families and communities who have been personally touched by a young suicide. We lobby for change in many areas using striking and dynamic campaigns and we also present evidence to those in power so that lessons can be learned and applied to help save young lives. For full details of our ongoing campaigns including information sharing, test standard and media reports, visit www.papyrus-uk.org.