Sexist and dangerous Samaritans ad

[Meadowbird]

https://twitter.com/samaritans/status/1760599123923722266

A really bizarre ad - encouraging lone women to approach disturbed men on deserted train station platforms and ask them out for a coffee. What could possibly go wrong? They also will become sexier if they do apparently.

The thing is there's a big difference between giving an opinion while someone is eagerly waving a clipboard at you, possibly with a few leading questions and having time to gather your thoughts properly without being in a rush or having someone breathing down your neck.

Or they want to rescue people/feel special/feel needed...

Just like the ones they’ve had for ages now on the Jubilee line. The millions spent recently on renaming the London overground lines could have been much better spent on adding more of those.

@EmpressaurusOfTheScathingTinsel I was just about to say this. The newer stations were built with these protective doors along the platform so people can't jump or push anyone else under the oncoming train.

And they’re a brilliant idea. I was astonished that they weren’t included on the Elizabeth Line platforms.

It's been many years since I've been to London, hell it's been many years since I've been on a train! So my wonderful idea exists!! That brings me joy.

So if it's possible then yes they perhaps should have spent more on those less on thinking up names.

I don’t know why there aren’t any on the Elizabeth Line, but you can’t use those barriers on normal platforms because they only work if every train’s doors open in exactly the same place.

They are on the Elizabeth Line at Paddington, I wonder whether they've just done them at the busiest stations.

Thanks @MurielThrockmorton, I didn’t know that.

There are eight stations with these doors on the Lizzie Line, and also eight on the Jubilee line. They are very expensive and can only be used where trains are automated or semi-automated so that, as a PP has said, the train doors and platform doors align perfectly.

Even on lines of that sort, it depends on the budget being available.

Re: male suicide and particular groupings within that. There is a disproportionate number among men and women who have been within the criminal justice system (the high multiplier for women may reflect the impact of relatively small numbers and both probably reflect mental health complexities).

The risk of suicide was six times higher in offenders in the community compared with the general population; the risk of suicide was over four times greater in male offenders and 11 times greater in female offenders than in the general population.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/drugrelateddeathsandsuicideinoffendersinthecommunityenglandandwales/2011to2021

I'm struck by the observation here about the plausible influence of the offence at last arrest. I don't know what level of clinical support is available to people who are bonded and living in the community while awaiting prosecution.

The elevated risk of suicide in prison and after release is a well-recognised and serious problem. Despite this, evidence concerning community-based offenders' suicide risk is sparse…Our data show 13% of general population suicides were in community justice pathways before death. Suicide risks were highest among individuals receiving police cautions, and those having recent, or impending prosecution for sexual offences. Findings have implications for the training and practice of clinicians identifying and assessing suicidality, and offering support to those at elevated risk.
…
Sexual or violent offending at last arrest was associated with significantly elevated suicide risk, with an especially large elevation in risk seen among sexual offenders. Impending prosecutions for sexual offences was associated with a four-fold increased risk.

King C, Senior J, Webb RT, Millar T, Piper M, Pearsall A, Humber N, Appleby L, Shaw J. Suicide by people in a community justice pathway: population-based nested case-control study. Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Aug;207(2):175-6. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.154831. Epub 2015 Jul 9. PMID: 26159602; PMCID: PMC4523929.

Politics of suicide (probably tangential to this but might discuss interaction with criminal justice): https://events.bookitbee.com/suicide-cultures/suicide-inas-politics-with-hazel-marzetti-and-alex/

This!!! Have been thinking these exact points.

I will have no truck with the Samaritans (the mental health charity, not the people of Samaria). I had need to phone once and the person on the other end made so many assumptions about me and every time I tried to refute any of them the person kept saying, "This MUST have happened, or you wouldn't have just said X; this CAN'T have happened because you just said Y."

In the end I said I felt worse after talking to them put the phone down and, and vowed never to ever call them. I wasn't suicidal but I wasn't well. Imagine if that person had answered the phone to someone who had just taken tablets and wanted to hear a voice as they ended their life: "You can't have just taken tablets, you sound alright to me..."

Black women have the caring role forced on them, because, well, why else do they exist but to be "kind" and to "help"?

This is what my local police force is saying. At first I thought it was saying speak up and sort it yourself but it's saying speak to an officer