Suicide prevention demand hits peak

Ireland's first Professor of Public Mental Health has said demand for suicide prevention services is now greater than ever due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prof Ella Arensman made the comment upon her appointment to her new position within UCC’s School of Public Health.

She said demand for research-based public mental health policy is higher than even now in light of the challenges posed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“My colleagues and have seen a significant increase in requests for policy briefings and research collaborations over the past year,” said the professor.

She continued: “For example, the requests for real-time suicide and self-harm data to inform mental health promotion and suicide prevention programmes have increased over the past year.”

Prof. Arensman said requests for mental health expertise in interdisciplinary research focusing on intervention and prevention measures for infectious diseases and other public health emergencies have also increased.

Speaking on Newstalk during the week, Prof. Arensman said a number of surveys carried out on the Irish public last year detected an increase in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and alcohol abuse.

She said the findings were not unique to Ireland with similar findings in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

Supporting this, Executive Director of Samaritans Ireland said the last year has been “one of the toughest times in Samaritans’ 60 years in Ireland”, with volunteers listening almost 73,000 hours of calls since the start of the pandemic. While in her new position, Prof. Arensman will continue in her current role as Chief Scientist at the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF).

Her role in UCC will see her lead important and ground-breaking research on suicide and self-harm within UCC’s School of Public Health.

“It is a great honour to have been selected for the first professorial appointment in public mental health in Ireland and it is very encouraging to see the endorsement of public mental health and suicide prevention research by UCC and the College of Medicine and Health,” Prof. Arensman said.

Prof. Arensman has worked for over 33 years in suicide prevention research and public mental health.

Throughout her career she has taken on multiple leadership roles, including President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (2013-2017), and is currently Vice President of the European Alliance Against Depression.

She is also a Steering Group member of the International Covid-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration.