Hi
I recently moved to a small town popn around 8000 in a fairly nice seaside resort in a very different part of the British Isles to London. There have been 2 suicides this year so far and were many according to locals last year. At least once a month someone ends their life. Every single one of these suicides were of men aged 20-35. If you add in suicides recorded as accidental or road deaths I reckon you could be looking at something like one in ten local men in that age demographic ending their own lives. No one seems to know why or what to do. As a man and one who has had mental health issues can I just simply ask that you be aware (you probably already are) how much some men are struggling and how hard it is for us to reach out to anyone. I am fully aware there are more women than men who are diagnosed with depression and who attempt suicide, and every single one of these is a tragedy. I think from what I can see locally that a certain number of the vulnerable young men feel they are unable to live up to the strong male provider stereotype and that they have no place in the world, and women won't want them. I sometimes wish if these men all had a good platonic female friend they could open up to in a way men can't with each other, I wouldn't see the tragic scenes I see too often. Lastly I'd like to thank anyone on here for their support and understanding. It must be awfully difficult to live with someone experiencing this.