Since 2007, SOSAD has worked tirelessly to prevent suicide in communities, and assist all who are affected.  

With six full-time offices based in Cavan, Louth, Laois, Meath and Monaghan, the organisation provides suicide prevention services such as one-to-one counselling, remote counselling and a 24/7 freephone crisis line.  

With World Suicide Prevention Day taking place on September 10 , SOSAD Ireland General Manager Carol Murphy spoke with the Irish Independent about the services the charity provides. 

“We are a mental health charity and will be 20 years next year, providing support in Ireland,” she explained. 

“We are not publicly funded, we are funded through donations and fundraising. At the moment, we are working towards a Section 39 through the HSE to receive public funding,” Ms Murphy said. 

The charity was initially launched in Drogheda by the Moroney family, following the sad passing of their son Simon. 

“Initially the charity was around suicide prevention and self-harm, but as everything develops, the story has moved on a lot since then. We now do the early intervention pieces too,” Ms Murphy said. 

“We try to encourage people to speak about what their issues may be at the early stage of their mental health journey.

“Rather than waiting until someone is in crisis, maybe we can encourage people to come earlier and get the help they need, and to learn about resilience and how to help other people.

“Most importantly, to learn how to help yourself first, and recognise when you need to have a conversation with someone. You don’t want to be sitting with something for a long time.” 

SOSAD Ireland also provides training workshops with external businesses, teaching managers and team leaders on how to recognise when a worker may be in need of help, and the correct way to approach the person. 

“I keep saying that the first conversation is the worst conversation, but it gets so much better from that. It’s hardest to take the first step than to take the journey, but it gets easier. It’s a process. There’s not a happy pill, unfortunately!” She said. 

The manager related it to a personal situation, where she spoke of the sad loss of her fifteen-year-old granddaughter. 

“My granddaughter died last year, it’s coming up to her first anniversary. Even though I’m working in mental health services, I keep stuff in myself. My whole journey, I have been supported by so many people, it’s unreal.

“Last week I really started to feel it and told myself to practice what I preach, to say, it’s coming up to her anniversary, I’m feeling emotional and sad’. Then people understand why you react in a certain way,” Ms Murphy explained. 

“I would never normally have said that, and the relief of actually saying it out loud was amazing. I’m using that as a comparison – to say it out loud, that’s the hard part done.” 

Ms Murphy noted that there is a strong uptake in services across their offices, with outreach services opening as a result. 

“Laois is a very successful service, the uptake is tremendous. We also have an outreach service in Athy from the Laois office. A year or so ago, we realised a lot of people were travelling, so we decided to open the outreach office. I think we are the easiest mental health charity to access.” 

The Navan office in Meath has been open since 2009, with phenomenal support from the public. An outreach service has since been established in Duleek and Stamullen, with the capacity for a service in Kells too. 

“We wouldn’t have lasted twenty years without the public’s support,” the manager highlighted. 

“The public raise around €700,000 a year to keep the whole service going. When you look at the costs of other services, it’s nothing. It’s half a dozen eggs compared to a whole food shop,” she said. 

The charity is encouraging anyone who needs to talk to ring their 24-hour phone line, or consider one-on-one meetings at one of their locations. 

“Wouldn’t it be great to have people around you who you know you can talk to. But if you’re not in that position, where you don’t have family and friends, what do you do then? You pick up the phone and ring SOSAD,” she said. 

“We’re around 20 years and we’re good, people trust us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get the funding. I’m so proud people trust the organisation so much that they continue to fund us and use our services,” the manager finished.