WITH EIGHT IN every 10 suicides in Ireland being male, a new campaign is to be launched focusing on reducing the amount of men taking their own lives in Ireland.

The initiative, called Mind Our Men, is to be launched by Pieta House next Tuesday (26 March) by the organisation’s CEO Joan Freeman.

Pieta House is a suicide and self-harm crisis organisation, and plan to open a third centre of excellence in Galway.

The Mind Our Men campaign will call on the women and men of Ireland to look out for the men in their lives so that together people can help to reduce the rate of male suicide.

Pieta House say that the campaign is being launched following a number of years of increased awareness in regard to suicide. However, despite the growth in awareness, the suicide rate continues to grow, with eight in every ten people who take their own lives being male.

The campaign will be multi-platformed, and Pieta House say that it:

will equip the public with the skills needed to reach out to the men in their lives during times of crisis. It aims to normalise the conversation around suicide by encouraging both men and women to take action and call, talk to, listen to and visit the men who are closest to them.

Pieta House is a free service and can be contacted at 01 601 0000 or mary@pieta.ie. It runs two centres of excellence in Limerick and Dublin, as well as two outreach centres.

The Samaritans are open 24 hours a day on 1850 609090, or you can email them at jo@samaritans.org.

Console have a freephone number at 1800 201 890 that is also open 24 hours a day.