With special guest:
- Glen Poole
Step one if we are going to stop male suicide is to know the facts. This is when it hits home just how appalling the current situation is in Australia and around the world. Eight people a day die by suicide in Australia and six of them are men and boys.
Our guest today is Glen Poole who presented at the National Men’s Health Gatherings in Brisbane (2013) and the Central Coast of NSW (2015) before travelling around Australia presenting seminars and finding out first-hand what is driving men and boys to this level of despair.
In his new book How You Can STOP MALE SUICIDE in 7 simple steps Glen provides some hope that we can stop the deaths. Glen identifies the most common problems or risk factors in simple terms as work, wife, mood and booze. The problems under the heading of “wife” include all relationships because the suicide rate for gays is higher even than the average.
Glen Poole says we are not powerless. If we see someone with one or more of those risk factors we should treat it as a red flag. Then we start a conversation in a listening non-confrontational way. This is the only way to know for sure if that person is on the path. Glen has lots of ways of getting that conversation going and he was interested in the recent ABC episode of You Can’t Ask That on the topic of suicide where some of the questions we need to ask were raised.
However one of the problems in dealing with suicide at a community level is that because of the stigma attached to this whole area there is pressure to call suicide something else. We have seen in recent times where there is a suicide by someone prominent, the press will avoid using the word suicide when we should be trying to learn something from one more unnecessary death. The real figure is undoubtedly even higher than eight deaths a day by suicide.
Male suicide is everyone’s business. We have to talk about it and get better at providing help. Hearing Glen provides optimism that if we know the facts and the risks, and we take the 7 steps, we can stop this blight on the whole community.
In this program we welcome back Glen Poole who is such a popular advocate, known as a champion of men’s health and wellbeing. This is a wonderful opportunity and not to be missed.
If this program has raised any concerns please contact:
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Crisis support chat
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
Online counselling
MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78
Online counselling
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
Glen is a men’s health and wellbeing champion from the UK who relocated to Australia in 2015.
Glen has a longstanding interest in male suicide prevention and as UK co-ordinator for International Men’s Day since 2010 he has advocated for male suicide to be addressed as a national priority.
As founder and chair of the National Conference for Men and Boys (2010-2013) Glen championed the work of various suicide prevention initiatives and in particular the charity CALM UK (The Campaign Against Living Miserably).
Glen worked with CALM on its innovative Year Of The Male project in 2014, which aimed to ‘turn male suicide into a national conversation’. Through this project he met Martin Seager, a Consultant Psychiatrist with the suicide prevention charity, Samaritans, who invited Glen to deliver keynote speeches at the National Male Psychology Conferences in London in 2014 and 2015. In Australia Glen was invited to present at the National Men’s Health Gatherings held in Brisbane (2013) and the Central Coast of NSW (2015).
Song selections by our guest: Everybody Hurts by R.E.M & Counting Stars by OneRepublic.