PIPS suicide prevention charity: protecting life
Founder and Director of suicide prevention charity PIPS Philip McTaggart talks to Owen McQuade about how the charity was founded and its work in supporting those affected by suicide.
“I would give anything not to be sitting here doing this interview,” Philip McTaggart remarks. “I would give anything if I could go back in time to change things. Unfortunately, I can’t do that.”
Nine years ago, suicide was an issue about which he had never talked or had any connection with. Philip was happily running his building business, had re-married and his wife had just had given birth to twins.
“But my life took a sharp right turn on 23 April 2003 when my oldest son Philip who was 17 ended his life,” he recalls. “I still can’t explain that whole feeling and the impact of it. It was the most devastating thing that has ever happened to me: the loss of a son and not to know why and not to understand why he didn’t come and talk to me about it.”
The question “Why did I not see there was something wrong?” and all the related thoughts impacted on him, Philip’s mum and the rest of the family. However, in the midst of all that pain, no-one came to help them.
“There was nobody. Even my own family went their own way after the funeral because they didn’t know what to say, how to deal with it, and it was also devastating for them,” he relates. Philip was strengthened by the steadfast support of his wife, Kelley, and the knowledge that people were asking about him and “feeling sorry for my pain and the hurt I was going through.” He felt, though, that no-one could see the pain that Kelley was going through or the impact that the suicide had on her.
“It was about a year later when the local priest, Father Gary Donegan, asked Kelley: ‘How are you?’ before someone thought of her,” he adds. “I thought about that for quite a while.”
Philip felt fortunate to be able to go back into work two weeks later, taking up a job with the Ardoyne Focus Group where he was able to work around the issue of suicide. Sadly, Philip’s son was the first of 14 young people to die by suicide over a seven-to-eight month period. Thirteen were young men, one was a young girl and all were under 18.
Beginnings
PIPS had its origins in a letter which Philip had written for Father Aidan Troy at his son’s funeral, which was then picked up on by a local newspaper. “A couple of weeks later, I was on the radio talking about the impact suicide was having on myself, my family and the wider community,” he explains. “As the deaths continued, I became the face of something no-one really understood and PIPS was born out of the tragedy in North Belfast. Everything happened so quickly.”
The name came from Philip’s son’s nickname, Pip, and is also used as the acronym: Public Initiative in Preventing Suicide.
“All we wanted to do was provide information and advice to families who had lost loved ones,” Philip comments. That assistance takes a range of forms, including leaflets which help to guide families through the grieving process, holding remembrance events to celebrate the lives of those lost, and organising talks about the issues of suicide and mental health, which in turn help people to move forward.
“There was no strategy at that time on how to prevent suicide,” he continues. “Gerry Adams was very vocal on the issue and was helpful in getting us meetings, as suicide was also an issue in West Belfast. We then started to campaign on the issue of suicide prevention and for better services.”
Philip had noticed on a website that a group in the USA had organised a Christmas Tree of Life celebration. When he contacted them, they explained how to organise such an event and a celebration has taken place each year since then.
“PIPS was set up to campaign for better services, better support, to provide information and to offer a telephone helpline,” he says of its approach. “We also decided from the outset that people would be treated with respect and nobody would be frowned upon and the issue of mental health, or if someone felt suicidal, would be taken seriously.”
PIPS is Belfast-based and there are now six PIPS groups, operating independently of each other, across Northern Ireland. The charity receives no public funding and relies totally on fund-raising and selling some of its training programmes to other organisations. In financial terms, the last three years have been particularly challenging.
Due to the lack of funding, PIPS works with other organisations that receive funding through the Executive’s Protect Life suicide prevention strategy and they embed a counsellor in PIPS to provide the counselling services.
“We offer a listening ear, a smile and a comfortable place where you can come in and talk about what is bothering you and that can be anything: debt, alcohol, drugs, relationships, life issues,” he says. “We do not have all the answers but what we will do is direct you into those services that will help and support you and we will keep in touch and try and support you. We offer complementary therapies and a range of counselling services from cognitive behavioural therapy to counselling for young people.”
Family groups meet weekly in PIPS and it also hosts meetings for groups of young people affected by suicide. A book club is also being started and the charity is always looking for new ideas to get people through the door. PIPS is “about breaking down the barriers and stigma that is still attached to the whole issue of mental health and suicide.”
Philip emphasises that talking about your issues or problems is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength “as you have had the courage to walk through that door to talk to someone.” He adds: “I’m a great believer in that if you do that, you will have a great weight lifted off your shoulders but this is where the work only starts. For many people, it will be a short period of time you need help and for others it will be longer. There is no set time period and we will work through until they are comfortable before going back fully into the community and feel better about themselves.”
PIPS follows up with people at three, six, nine and 12 months after their initial counselling and this continued support is “very important.” PIPS also has an outreach service where staff and volunteers go out to homes and sit and talk with families. “We want to open seven days a week with extended opening hours so that people can access the help and support when they need it,” Philip comments.
At present, PIPS has six-full time staff, around 20 active volunteers and a bigger pool of volunteers, the vast majority of whom have lost someone to suicide. In May this year, PIPS moved into new premises on the Antrim Road. Previously a derelict house, the building had been renovated by the local community and is “still very much a work in progress” with two floors still in need of renovation.
Prevention
“PIPS came out of all the tragedies,” Philip recalls. “It is a community-based organisation with a bottom-up approach to suicide prevention. Everything about it is rooted in the community and that is where we see our focus.”
Crucially, PIPS is focused on preventing suicide in the first place. Its staff and volunteers “do not want to be waiting on people coming through the door saying they have lost someone.” Prevention takes place through education and awareness training in schools, in community organisations, with older people, in community centres, and in businesses. PIPS has also trained MLAs so that they can direct constituents to the right sources of help for mental health.
The charity was heavily involved in the drafting of Northern Ireland’s first suicide prevention strategy, Protect Life, which was published by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in October 2006 and initially ran to 2011. A refreshed version of the strategy was published by Health Minister Edwin Poots in June of this year, which extended its timespan to 2014.
PIPS works closely with the Public Health Agency, which oversees the strategy’s implementation and other organisations in the health and social care sector.
Speaking in the Assembly, Poots recorded his appreciation for the “central role” that bereaved families and local communities have played in the strategy’s development and on-going implementation. “Their courage in the face of such personal tragedy is truly inspirational,” he stated.
In 2011, 289 deaths due to suicide were registered in Northern Ireland, of which 120 occurred during the year. As all suicides must be referred to a coroner and take time to be fully investigated, some are registered a year or more after the death has taken place.
Suicide rates are currently twice as high in deprived areas, compared to those elsewhere, and men are three times more likely to commit suicide than women. Young men in deprived areas are therefore particularly vulnerable.
The refreshed strategy contains a new aim to reduce the difference between suicide rates in deprived and non-deprived areas. The Health Minister has convened a ministerial co-ordination group, which keeps suicide prevention as a priority for the relevant government departments and ensures that departments work together. The group’s membership also includes the culture, education, employment and learning, justice, regional development and social development ministers. The First Minister and deputy First Minister are represented by their junior ministers.
Practical actions will include assertive outreach to patients who miss mental health appointments, monitoring the level of repeat A&E admissions of people in emotional distress, and increasing the uptake of suicide prevention and mental health awareness training. There will also be an enhanced focus on the needs of older people and those living in rural communities.
“We give people an understanding of what the issue is about, make them aware of the signs and how to handle the issue,” Philip concludes. “At the same time, if anyone who comes through our door we are here to help them. We are non-judgemental and everyone here knows about the heartache and hurt.”
From his own experience, Philip is undoubtedly deeply proud of his son and his life clearly inspires him to help to save that of others: “There is one thing that I am happy and proud about is that I had Philip and I spent 17 wonderful years with Philip. But it has taken me a while to get to this place.”
PIPS House, 279-281, Antrim Road
Belfast BT15 2GZ
Tel: 028 9080 5850
W: www.pipscharity.com
E: office@pipscharity.com
