St Martins is pleased to be involved in the Baton of Hope initiative in Norfolk. We will have a promotional stand at Chapelfield park in Norwich on September 17th, alongside other charities and organisations who support some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
The purpose of the Baton of Hope is suicide prevention, and to have important conversations about mental health – which may be difficult and painful – but can prevent harm and encourage people to access help. The Norfolk leg of the tour is organised by the Norwich Samaritans who hope the tour will ignite crucial conversations about mental health and wellbeing. The St Martins team will be in Chapelfield Park from 11am – 3pm handing out free pin badges which reflect some of their organisational values – ‘more caring, less judging’ and ‘more kindness’. They will also distribute information about Pathways, a partnership service led by St Martins in the city to support people who sleep rough. Other organisations include Suicide Bereavement Support Norfolk, MIND, The Matthew Project, Ghange Grow Live and Together.
Suicide is the second most common cause of death for people experiencing homelessness. Chief Executive Dr Jan Sheldon said, “Suicide and homelessness are both issues of inequality, which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people in society. Each and every death of a person experiencing homelessness, whether sleeping rough or living in temporary or hostel accommodation is a tragedy, and a clear sign that they have been failed by the systems that are designed to support them.”
13.4% of deaths of people experiencing homelessness were due to suicide, an annual increase of 34%*
St Martins Chielf Executive Dr Jan Sheldon said, “St Martins provides trauma-informed care to the people we support, and signposts them to mental health services where appropriate. Counselling sessions run from our learning and development centre. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to ask for help and at St Martins we seek to promote a culture of openness with no judgment.”