The Department of Health will temporarily install some vinyls in nearly 90 points in Catalonia, in a street action to prevent suicide, especially in men over 50 years old. The action is part of the campaign "Don't let him fall into the well of suicide" which the Department launched last December.
The Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, accompanied by the Director of the Suicide Prevention Plan of Catalonia and the Director of Mental Health of Parc Taulí, Diego Palao, presented this morning in Plaça Universitat de Barcelona one of these vinyls that shows the same image of the campaign: a black dot that symbolizes wherever people with suicidal ideation can be found.
With this installation, Salut wants to emphasize the detection of warning signs and the prevention by the environment of behaviors that threaten one's own life and also asking for help, if necessary, by calling the phone 061/Health Answer.
In this sense, the councilor has emphasized that "this campaign affects the environment of people who have suicidal ideation. We ask the environment to reach out to people who are in this situation, and this reaching out is to call 061".
Dr. Diego Palao explained that "most of the calls correspond to affected people, family members and primary care professionals who detect possible cases". And "in most cases, the phone call helps reduce suicidal ideation."
The vinyls, 260 cm in diameter, will be present in different cities of the country for a month, except for one point that will be there for about 15 days. With these facilities, we want to raise awareness among family members and the environment, especially men over 50, so that they do not trivialize risky situations, and accompany and help the person susceptible to developing suicidal behavior. And it is that detecting suicidal thoughts before an attempt occurs is essential to prevent avoidable losses.
All information: Press release from the Ministry of Health
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