{"id":61398,"date":"2024-05-16T13:33:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/?p=61398"},"modified":"2024-05-16T13:33:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:33:17","slug":"suicide-prevention-conference-at-sheffields-octagon-centre-draws-thousands-from-across-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/05\/16\/suicide-prevention-conference-at-sheffields-octagon-centre-draws-thousands-from-across-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicide Prevention Conference at Sheffield\u2019s Octagon Centre draws thousands from across UK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>National suicide prevention charity, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/batonofhopeuk.org\/the-tour\/\">Baton of Hope<\/a><\/em>, hosted its anticipated conference today in Sheffield\u2019s Octagon Centre, featuring talks from renowned mental health advocates from across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charity, co-founded by Mike McCarthy, aims to raise awareness, share facts, debunk myths surrounding suicide, and develop the language and discourse surrounding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr McCarthy started the charity after losing his son Ross, 31, to suicide in 2021, and shared his aims to eliminate the phrase <em>\u201ccommitting suicide\u201d<\/em> \u2013 stating it\u2019s outdated and connotates to when it was once illegal to take your own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: \u201cRoss was many things, but he <em>wasn\u2019t<\/em> a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"722\" src=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/BOH2-COMPRESSED-1024x722.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/BOH2-COMPRESSED-980x691.jpg 980w, https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/BOH2-COMPRESSED-480x338.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The full day conference hosted the likes of Prof Rory O&#8217;Connor, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, as well as mental health campaigner Alastair Campbell, and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shawmind.org\">Shawmind &amp; The Association for Online Gamers<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conference proved to be a huge success, gaining both local and widespread media attention from across the UK.<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Mr McCarthy, \u201c6000 people in the UK take their lives every year, and it\u2019s the biggest killer of men under 50, and women under 35\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/BOH3-736x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61407\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With suicide awareness now being so prevalent in online media, some attendees shared whether they believe that social media benefits people who struggle with mental health, or if it\u2019s a detriment to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ellie MacDonald, a suicide prevention advocate and staff member at the conference, said: \u201cI don\u2019t think social media helps. You have to look a certain way; you\u2019ve got to portray your life looking amazing, and seeing other people\u2019s lives seemingly looking great certainly doesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She added: \u201cThe government needs to stop penalising people who may be struggling with mental health. We don\u2019t want to see headlines of people <em>\u201cadmitting\u201d<\/em> to depression. You\u2019d never <em>\u201cadmit\u201d<\/em> to a broken leg, so why would you <em>\u201cadmit\u201d <\/em>anxiety or depression?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr McCarthy shared the same sentiment with Ellie, saying: \u201cWe don\u2019t suggest that there\u2019s any guilt over physical illness, so why is there guilt surrounding mental illness?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baton of Hope charity hosts Suicide Prevention Conference at Sheffield&#8217;s Octagon Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":61406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,82],"tags":[64,1544,1546,38,1381],"class_list":["post-61398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story","tag-charity","tag-conference","tag-octagon-centre","tag-sheffield","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - 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