More taxi firms join North Lanarkshire’s ongoing suicide prevention projectCab drivers in Cumbernauld and Airdrie trained on how to spot suicidal symptoms in passengers.
Two North Lanarkshire taxi companies have offered their support to a suicide prevention programme.
Central Cars and Airdrie Taxis have pledged to run the ‘Spill it’ adverts across three of their taxi fleets and include the campaign slogan ‘Suicide: Don’t hide it, talk about it’ across the taxi exteriors.
As well as the prominent posters, drivers have also completed a two-day suicide prevention training to help identify passengers who may be at risk and give them cards which detail helpline phone number such as Breathing Space and the Samaritans if appropriate.
Central Cars driver Drew Friel said: “I got a lot out of the training. Sometimes we do get vulnerable passengers who look as though they need someone to talk to.
“In the past, I wouldn’t have known what to do or say but now I feel able to approach, talk to the person and point them in the right direction for long-term help.”
Scotland has the highest suicide rate in the UK and it is still the leading cause of death in those under the age of 35 years.
In North Lanarkshire, there were 49 deaths from suicide in 2011, but latest Government figures show that there has been a 17% fall in suicide rates across Scotland in the last three years.
Choose Life set a ten year Scottish Government strategy in 2002 and aims to reduce suicide in Scotland by 20% by 2013.
And, the ongoing commitment from local businesses is helping in some way towards this target, as North Lanarkshire Choose Life Co-ordinator Greg Burgess explains.
He said: “In North Lanarkshire partnership is key for addressing suicide. Support and commitment from private businesses such as Airdrie Taxis and Central Taxis Cumbernauld is vital to reducing the taboo surrounding suicide.
“We are very grateful to these firms for the time and interest in supporting this sensitive subject.”
Research published on September 11 from Leeds Metropolitan University evaluated the success of a suicide awareness taxi campaign in Motherwell since 2008.
It found that people from this area have a higher awareness of the Choose Life suicide prevention campaign compared to other North Lanarkshire towns such as Airdrie, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.
It also found that the majority of respondents said that they had learned about the campaign by reading the taxi adverts.
The research also analysed the number of calls made by Lanarkshire residents about self-harm and suicide to the Breathing Space helpline during June 2010 and April 2011 and found that of the 89 calls made, nine out of ten of these were from Motherwell.
http://local.stv.tv/airdrie/news/189541 ... n-project/
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