08 Sep 2025
Image credit: MA
We are busy people.
For most of us, our days are full with not enough time to complete all the things we would like to. Our minds tend to be equally crammed as our thoughts compete for our attention. We do our best to juggle and we strive to thrive but all too often we can only survive. It tends to only be through illness, significant life events and personal life changes that we are forced to slow down and face how we truly are.
The 10th September is World Suicide Prevention Day a day where worldwide there is a collective consciousness towards what we are often too full to focus on. It’s a day that since 2003 has carved out space to acknowledge the invisible struggles that most of us are dealing with. Supported by many worldwide organisations that have expertise in the area of mental health and suicide prevention its aim is to prevent anyone from feeling they have no choice but to take their own life. It wants to increase conversations around mental health and suicide, deepen understanding and highlight all the help and esources that are available.
As Project Assistant for the SASH Prevention Film Unit here at Inside Job Productions, I am gaining invaluable insight into the rich web that is continually weaving in order to catch anyone and everyone that feels like they are falling. I have personally had experience of having to re prioritise my own mental health above all else. Looking back there were red flags that I was completely unaware of and so I ignored and pushed them away. Eventually it took a metaphorical thunderbolt to force me to face what was lurking beneath my automated version of life. At first I felt numb and I tried to focus on the practicalities of things that I could solve and do. Until the day came that even that was not possible and I was alone with my feelings which was completely overwhelming.
Thankfully someone that I knew at the time was a volunteer at Samaritans and I am so pleased that they shared this fact openly because it gave me a personal connection. Without it I do not think I would have dialled their number as I felt there were callers in more need than me. Making that call and telling the volunteer how I was feeling was the start of me asking for and receiving help so that I kept myself safe. Knowing it was confidential meant everything so that I felt comfortable to open up.
The SASH Prevention Film Unit is using the medium of film to increase understanding, engagement and awareness towards the issues of mental health and suicide in the prison context where individuals and staff are navigating complex issues every day in a pressurised environment. Working in partnership with Samaritans, whose Listener scheme has been operating in prisons since 1991, its aim is to contribute to a reduction in the number of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm incidents at HMP Wandsworth. I wish that for most people they do not have to experience such intensity in their lives before they are able to be with how they really are. It is a privilege to be working on this project for the next year with Inside Job Productions as I learn and contribute to its delivery.
I hope that reading this you are encouraged to find some space no matter how small to contemplate how you are really doing and to start or continue to focus on this as you go about your busy lives. If you would like to know more about the project please contact Jas Pitt (Director/Producer of SASH Prevention Film Unit, Inside Job Productions) jas@insidejobproductions.co.uk
Project Assistant, SASH Prevention Film Unit
For Urgent Mental Health Support:
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or go to A&E.
Call or visit NHS 111 online and select the mental health option.
Crisis Text Service: Text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential, 24/7 support from trained volunteers for urgent issues like self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
Helplines: Call the Samaritans on 116 123 for free, 24/7 listening support.
