It has created a multi-professional team for coordination and case management to support professionals in any field.
In 2022 there were 109 deaths from this cause: 75 men and 34 women, one every three day
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Health expands the institutional network to prevent and avoid suicides in the Balearic Islands
‘Change the narrative’. This is the slogan chosen this year for World Suicide Prevention Day, which is celebrated this Tuesday to put an end once and for all to the silence and stigma that still surrounds these self-harming behaviours.
The aim is to move from a culture in which these dramatic situations are hidden to one in which openness, understanding and support are the central axes of action. To this end, the Regional Ministry of Health has expanded the institutional network to prevent and avoid these actions, which, it reminds us, can only be prevented or mourned.
In addition to reinforcing the specific care services available to all public hospitals in this community to address this problem, the Regional Ministry of Health, through the Directorate General of Mental Health, has created a multi-professional team for the coordination and management of cases.
This team made up of four specialists, will provide support to professionals in any field, public or private, for the first approach to a case, providing them with support and guidelines for action in different situations involving suicidal ideation, suicidal behaviour or cases of unwanted loneliness.
This unit will also be the link between the 39 educational psychologists who are joining the public secondary education network this academic year and the child and adolescent mental health services. This year alone, the regional coordination for the prevention of suicide has organised and offered training to more than 600 health professionals and another 500 from other areas such as social services, town councils and local police.
The Balearic Institute for the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents (IBSMIA) hospitalised 218 minors last year for mental disorders, a figure that represented a decrease of 14% compared to the 254 in the previous year of 2022. The main problems treated were emotional regulation, attempted self-harm, self-harm and eating disorders.
Final data for 2022
According to the definitive data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2022 there were 109 suicides in the Balearic Islands, 75 in men and 34 in women, almost one every three days. Nationally, the figure rose to 4,227 deaths: 11 people ended their lives every day that year.
In this archipelago, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people between 15 and 29 years of age, behind only traffic accidents.
A closer network
The institutional network to prevent and avoid suicides is getting wider and tighter every year. At the beginning of the year, the 061 health emergency service incorporated three clinical psychologists to provide a rapid response not only to suicide attempts, but also to people in their immediate environment.
In collaboration with the Regional Ministries of Health and Families and Social Affairs, 3Salut Mental, which brings together three non-profit social organisations dedicated to mental disorders, will present tomorrow its awareness campaign ‘Del suïcidi, en xerram’ to raise awareness of this problem, which will run until 16 November, Survivor’s Day, and in which awareness-raising talks will be given to all those interested.
Also forming part of this network is the Associació de Familiars i Amics Supervivents per Suïcidi Illes Balears (Afasib) – it is estimated that in each suicide between 6 and 10 people in the victim’s environment are affected; the Telephone of Hope, which for this event has created the hashtag #conectaTEalavida and mentions a friend; the ANAR Foundation, which watches over the rights of minors and adolescents; the official colleges of Psychology (COPIB) and Nursing (COIBA); the emergency psychologists of the 112 Service, the fire brigades, local police and state security forces as well as the media, who are currently working in a coordinated manner to join forces to reverse the figures of deaths by suicide.
VI Solidarity Race
Next Sunday in Marratxí, from six o’clock in the afternoon, the VI Race and Walk for Suicide Prevention will take place, organised by Afasib and 3Salut Mental, with the participation of the Regional Ministry of Health. This recreational event is part of the Programa (des) Integrades, co-financed by the Regional Ministries of Health and Families and Social Affairs.
Let’s talk about it
If you have a crisis, call 061 / 112 / 024
If you need to talk to someone:
- Teléfono de la Esperanza 971461112
- AFASIB 657 716 340
(des) Integrades 681 92 58 93
The important thing is to ask for help.
You can also talk to your primary care centre or go to your hospital’s
to the Emergency Room of your hospital.