Current Campaign Research – CALM

Campaign Against Living Miserably

What is CALM?

CALM
campaign against living miserably

CALM, the campaign against living miserably, is a charity reg no 1110621 set up in response to the high suicide rate among young men, currently the biggest killer of men under the age of 35. It is a campaign and charity set up for and on behalf of young men.  Most men who kill themselves aren’t in contact with any other agency.  And to be blunt, they don’t identify with much out there. When asked, what they indicated they wanted was practical, anonymous, confidential help from professionals. Which is why CALM was formed.

Although CALM is targeted at young men aged between 15-35, we offer help, information and advice via a helpline and website to anyone calling within the UK, regardless of age, gender or geographic location.

One of the original Trustees was Anthony Wilson who encouraged the start up of the charity in 2006 and who became a Trustees. Music continues to form part of how we market CALM and we’ve built up a profile club flyers, posters, beer mats, gigs and music and comedy events.

There are many reasons why young men need a campaign like CALM. Everyone has their own life, with different interests, circumstances, pressures and problems. But men aren’t supposed to talk about stuff, so it can be hard to know where or who to go to for help when life gets on top of them.

CALMzones

A CALMzone is an area where we work with the local authorities to promote CALM within their area under a Service Agreement. Our local CALMzone Coordinators work with local clubs, community, music and entertainment industries to promote the campaign to young men. We have 10 years experience of this work in Merseyside, and currently are the first port of call of men under 35 who are feeling stressed. There are two CALMzones at present, E Lancs and Merseyside.

our service

The helpline is currently operational between 5pm and midnight Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday every week of the year. Calls are free (from landlines and certain mobile phone providers) and confidential (see policies). A minicom service is available on 0800 027 2982. There is also a language line facility operational on the line.

CALM’s helpline is free to calls on a landline – and won’t show up on landline phone bills. It’s confidential and anonymous. Calls are answered by trained advisors, who will help callers work through problems and start to sort things out. Within CALMzones they can give callers information about local places to go to get more help. Callers living  CALMzones, will be given details of nationally available services. Our website is at www.thecalmzone.net.

our helpline advisors

The helpline is staffed by advisors employed by The Listening Company, a company which operates a number of primarily health related helplines. The Listening Company competitively tendered for the helpline and have consistently demonstrated the ability to provide a high quality service supported by a strong technical ability. The helpline is accredited by the Mental Health Helpline Partnership.

REF: http://www.thecalmzone.net/

SUICIDE INFORMATION

The main source of information for suicide in England & Wales is ONS.  You will see different figures quoted for ‘suicide’ and for undetermined death; it is standard practice to include both these figures as it is understood that many ‘undetermined deaths’ are suicide, but not written as such for a wide variety of reasons.

You can find out statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland from GRO and NISRA.

suicide statistics for the UK

Suicide around the world by gender