Dawlish Town Council’s mental health and suicide prevention working group rolled out its second mental health initiative of 2020, a poster version of its ‘Do you need help’ leaflet. The poster will be going on the back of toilet doors in public places, with the agreement of local owners.
Life the leaflet, the poster is intended to be a self help tool or for anyone concerned about someone else’s mental wellbeing. You can easily see helplines to call. Both the poster and the leaflet can be downloaded on the Dawlish Town Council website.
Dawlish Town Council formed the mental health and suicide prevention working group in January 2020. Their first mental health initiative was the ‘Do you need help’ leaflet which included details of mental wellbeing and suicide prevention resources to be delivered to every household in the community. It was published to coincide with World Mental Health Day on the 10th October 2020 and is available online. The leaflet is intended to help anyone find out how to obtain help from professional and support organisations, and aims to create awareness of mental health and suicide prevention. It makes clear that asking for help is the first step to staying safe. The leaflet was delivered to over 6500 households with the help of Assist Teignbridge volunteers in October and early November.
Cllr Alison Foden, Mayor of Dawlish at the time, said: ”The leaflet is very timely as it has been a difficult period for all ages during the pandemic, with redundancies, unemployment, loneliness, grief, isolation, stress, anxiety and feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts about the future. The leaflet is part of the Town Council working towards making Dawlish a caring and safer town.”
Many of our councils have worked on mental health initiatives to help those struggling in their area, including Great Torrington and Fremington who have both been involved with ‘Let’s Talk’ groups.