IT was a bright sunny morning in Fraserburgh when Danny Thain, 27, kissed his partner and son goodbye. He will not see them again for another three months as he is about to embark on a 4300 mile journey around the British Isle’s on his bike.
His mission is to raise £3 million to build Scotland’s first suicide prevention centre.
Danny’s mission to end suicide is a personal one. He has lost three friends to suicide. It was after a third friend killed himself last Summer that he founded The World Suicide Prevention Project (TWSPP).
“I named it the world suicide prevention project for a reason. I want to change the mental health community forever” Danny said.
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Danny first lost a friend to suicide when he was only eighteen and at nineteen he lost another friend to suicide. Last year he was a life coach helping people with their mental health when Cameron had contacted him asking to receive life coaching. A few months went by and he had still not heard from him.
He finally received a phone call at the beginning of June telling him Cameron had killed himself.
Danny said: “It was a massive epiphany moment but also a really haunting moment because Cameron couldn’t afford the life coaching. It plays a lot on my mind. From then on out I would never ask for money from people that are struggling with their mental health.”
The day he learned of Cameron’s suicide he started planning what would become TWSPP.
Danny has to raise £30,000 by the middle of March to secure initial funding for a 240 acre estate in Newmachar, Aberdeenshire. The property could house ten people who are suicidal or have attempted suicide as well as five professionals that are there to take care of them.
Danny raised the initial funds for the suicide prevention centre when he slept homeless on the streets of Aberdeen for one month last November and December. This fundraiser raised £30,000.
The Mental health epidemic
Men in Scotland are two and a half to three times more likely to commit suicide than women.
Dr David Hall, suicide prevention lead at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said: “We see suicide rates in a country spike in times of economic hardship. Economic hardship affects people at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder the most and so suicide rates are higher in deprived areas.”
Dr Hall says that socio-economic factors are the biggest cause of suicide and he is concerned about the effects the cost of living crisis will have on suicide rates.
Part of the reason men are more likely to commit suicide is because they are more acutely affected by financial hardship as they are seen as the bread winners. Dr Hall said: “If you cannot fulfil those societal expectations then it brings up feelings of shame and guilt. Men also find it harder to show emotions as there is a stigma around it”.
Danny’s vision for a suicide prevention centre
Danny described the routine that will be in place at the centre: “It will be a place where people can come and there will be counsellors on site. There will be a strict schedule and sleeping pattern, outdoor activities, saunas, ice baths, chores and they will be fed three nutritious meals a day. There will be no technology to get them away from social media.”
This centre will strictly care for people who feel suicidal or who have attempted suicide. It will be for people at the most extreme end of mental health issues.
“It will be a non-clinical setting, it won’t feel like you’re in a hospital or a mental hospital because I believe one of the main reasons why people don’t go and get help is because it’s a one size fits all approach”. Danny said.
He wants the five professionals who care for the people to ideally have a lived experience with suicide. Either they were once suicidal, attempted suicide or have lost someone to suicide and they now want to make a difference.
Dr David Hall said: “There is a huge role for people with lived experiences of because they understand exactly what people who feel suicidal are going through”.
Danny said he wants “people with big hearts to work here”.
Danny still needs to raise £16,000 in one week.
On the importance of donating for the suicide prevention centre, Danny said: “People should donate because suicide is the biggest taker of lives of people under the age of 50. I’m sacrificing a lot for this and I will not stop until I get there. I need the support of people who have the finances to really make a difference. It will be monumental for the people who we treat.”
If you would like to donate, click HERE.
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