White Wreath Day

Over a million deaths – worldwide, each year...

Tsunami?  Earthquake?  Tornado?

No... Suicide.

Sunday the 29^th of May

is White Wreath Day.

White Wreath Day is a day for

 families to grieve and remember, publicly. 

For some reason, suicide is shameful...

and not just for the person who couldn’t fight any more.  It’s also shameful for their families.  There’s an unspoken wonder – How could they not have known?  Why didn’t they do something?

White Wreath Day is for them.

I’m lucky in that I don’t have

much person experience with suicide.

So, I went here and read

some incredibly sad stories –

written by the people who were left behind.

Most of the stories told of long

and tiring battles with mental illness. 

Loved people suffer years of mental illness,

medications and hospitalisation

before finally surrendering. 

The stories were so similar. 

In so many cases, family members

were angry and frustrated. 

Their loved ones were often released from hospitals – without the family’s knowledge.  The families were not told of changes to medication or even notified of suicidal tendencies. 

The reason - treatment is confidential...

Families who have spent years watching a loved one battle with mental illness are excluded from assisting with treatments because of confidentiality laws.  The wealth of knowledge these families must have - and yet, they are never consulted.

Some stories told of a suicide immediately following the release from a hospital.  Groggy, disillusioned and mentally unstable people are released or sign themselves out... they leave the hospital alone.  And doesn’t that absolutely make sense?!  If we write a will, to give away our life’s treasures, we need to be of sound mind – but we can be released from hospitals after psychotic bouts and “unsuccessful” suicide attempts... and there is nothing allowing the carers to be informed.  And by carers, I mean parents and spouses, children and siblings...

Urgent changes are needed to the Confidentiality Laws to allow medical information to be given to family members caring for a mentally ill/disordered loved one. 

                                     In the words of others:

*My hope is that we stop labelling people whose mind is disordered and feelings are overwhelming because of psychological damage. Let’s start looking for causes and not just treating the effects. Let’s start looking at the relationship between sexual, physical and mental abuse and the onset of mental illness in later life.

*...but you know how people are, they are anti - anti depressants.

*The weekend Ian died, there were 3 other hangings in our area. Maybe the tragedy of suicide has to affect those in control of our health system, before they really take it seriously.

I feel for all of the people who are “left”.

I hope Confidentiality Laws can be

changed in regards to the mentally ill.

I hope White Wreath Day helps.