Taxi drivers to get advice on dealing with potential suicides

IN the first health initiative of its kind in this country, Limerick taxi drivers are to get expert advice on how to deal with people seeking to be ferried to known suicide black spots.

Limerick, along with three other regions in Europe, was chosen for the Optimising Suicide Prevention Programmes and their Implementation (OSPI), funded by the EU Commission.

The city reportedly has the highest incidence of attempted suicides among boys and girls in the 15-19 age group.

OSPI-Limerick which commences later this month will involve innovative approaches involving a wide range of community services and groups who have contact with suicide-vulnerable people.

Dr Ella Arensmen, director of the National Suicide Research Foundation, who is heading up OSPI-Limerick, said for the first time in this country, they will be meeting with Limerick taxi drivers to encourage them to take part in a 90-minute workshop designed for them.

Dr Arensmen said: “These taxi workshops have been done in other countries. First, we will make informal contact with the taxi companies in Limerick to wish if they would like to take part. It can be very traumatic for a taxi driver to learn that somebody who has booked to go to a certain location has died by suicide there.

“We want to know if Limerick taxi drivers would like to discuss the workshop with us. This has not been done before in Ireland and we would like to take a stepped approach and see what their needs are. There are specific black spots where people are known to die by suicide.”

She said if a taxi driver gets a booking to one of these black spot areas and feels there is something which causes concern due to behaviour of the person in the car, the workshop advice could be crucial.

“It may help the taxi driver intervene by opening a communication with the person to reverse their thoughts and plans. We are not trying to train the taxi drivers to be psychiatrists or counsellors. But, with advice from our workshop, they would be able to try change a person’s thoughts by maybe stopping for a coffee, suggesting a call to a help line. We believe the workshop experience would give the taxi driver the know-how to make what could prove a crucial intervention. We do know from studies in other countries, a taxi driver in these circumstances can often feel helpless, and the workshop will help give taxi drivers the tools to feel more confident to put in an intervention if they are concerned for the safety of the person in the taxi.”

She said they also plan to meet with Limerick undertakers, as some people, as well as writing suicide notes, can sometimes contact an undertaker about buying a coffin and makingfuneral arrangements. TheOSPI-Limerick programme, she said, would help undertakers to pick up certain alarm signals.

Dr Arensman said there had been well-documented cases of people making funeral arrangements before multiple family deaths, but it would be difficult to identify the frequency of individuals making their own funeral arrangements and dying by suicide.