Victim Support Malta will soon launch suicide prevention service

Victim Support Malta (VSM), a local NGO that attends to the emotional support and provision of legal information of all victims of all crime, will soon be launching a service dealing with suicide prevention and the provision of support to persons who are bereaved by suicide. 

"Local statistics indicate that 289 suicides have occurred on our island between 2007 and 2017 (Bonnici, 2017). Thus, on average 25 families per year have lost a loved one to suicide. The world health organization reports that an estimated 804,000 individuals commit suicide per year, and that statistic is continuously increasing (WHO, 2014). Due to the sensitive nature of suicide and the work it entails including different departments there is a tendency for the act to go under reported (WHO, 2014)," the NGO said in a statement.

"We at VSM feel that something needs to be done about this problem. To date, we have no holistic local service which provides for the needs of persons who have come in touch with suicide, and we are striving to fill that gap."

 Board members on Victim Support Malta include Dr. Anthony Zahra (Psychiatrist), Dr. Janice Formosa Pace (Criminologist), Julianne Grima (Psychotherapist and Chairperson of VSM) and Krista Tabone (Trainee Counsellor and Director of VSM), who have been working tirelessly on building the proposal, are excited and determined to now set the ball in motion. "We're delighted to announce that the Marigold Foundation share our vision and will therefore be supporting us in this venture. A team has been identified to receive specialized training within the coming weeks. By December 2018, we will be opening up the service to the general public. We will be providing group, individual, and family based therapy options. Interventions will take place on a case-by-case basis in order to cater to the particular needs of persons who reach out for support."

Members of the general public are invited to get in touch with VSM via telephone, email or social media should they wish to access this service. We will be building up our database over the coming weeks in order to begin provision of services ASAP.

from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2MDoOip
via IFTTT