PREVIOUS EVENTS / FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES
- 2003 to 2006 Coping with and Surviving Depression 2003 – Autumn evening lecture series
Open lecture series in Holiday Inn Dublin City Centre featured acclaimed contributors, Prof Kay Redfield Jamison (“An Unquiet Mind”) and Johnny McEvoy (Singer / Songwriter).
- 2003 Sports Support – Jimmy Magee Video “Great Sporting Moments”
Jimmy Magee celebrates 50 years in broadcasting by compiling a video of great sporting moments, underwritten in part by The 3Ts, with part of proceeds of sales donated to The 3Ts.
RESEARCH
ALL IRELAND SUICIDE SURVEY: Work has commenced on a National Suicide Survey to find the stories behind the statistics. A team of researchers and interviewers visit towns throughout Ireland to talk in detail with families who have been bereaved by suicide in order to develop in-depth 3-dimensional understanding of suicide in our communities.
We know the numbers of lives lost through suicide, roughly 600 annually, but there is a huge knowledge gap in understanding the lives behind the statistics, a major obstacle in developing successful help, intervention and prevention programmes for people in suicidal crisis. International literature indicates that a suicidal crisis can be brief, transient and the moment may pass or may respond to helpful expert intervention. The response to suicide in Ireland has been slow and continues to operate in a knowledge vacuum where many myths still surround the subject. This project is led by Professor Kevin Malone, principal investigator to a number of Ireland suicide research projects and co-founder of 3Ts. We believe this survey is critical to moving forward and to leading the way internationally with regard to suicide intervention and prevention initiatives. To date, 3Ts has secured extensive funding support the Survey from private individuals in addition to the Ireland Funds, the ESB ElectricAid, Carphone Warehouse, the “Be Not Afraid” Wristband campaign, Newstalk 106, Bank of Ireland Arts Centre and the Louis & Zelie Martin Foundation. Local Fundraisers have also contributed to the Survey such as the numerous events held in the Thurles area, the Pre-Ryder Cup Dinner in the K Club and the Stafford Ball held by the Paul Stafford Foundation in Nov 07.
To participate in the Survey, please call +353 1 2094228. To download an application form to participate in the Suicide Survey, please click here.
DUMP (The Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Properly project):
The Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Properly project is very practical initiative supported in part by 3Ts fundraising. DUMP is more than a research project. By collecting and ensuring the safe disposal and destruction of unused medicines, DUMP actively seeks to reduce the amount of deaths through overdose and accidental poisoning. Collection points for unwanted or unused medicines will be located at pharmacies. This potentially has very real benefits in terms of suicide prevention, child accident prevention, environmental protection as well as collecting valuable information on prescription and over-prescription patterns.
DUMP aims to:
- Reduce access to means of overdose;
- Reduce Accidental poisoning of children;
- Help Prevent the unused medicines entering into the environment.
10,000 Parasuicide cases attended at A&E departments in Ireland in 2001, with medication overdose the method of choice for the majority of both men (64.3%) and women (83.1%).
Accidental poisoning in young children accounts for at least 3,000 attendances at A&E with 10% of accidental deaths in childhood due to poisoning, placing it second only to road traffic accidents. Over half of childhood poisoning queries to the National Poisons Information Centre related to poisoning with medication.
The disposal of unused medicines presents an additional problem. There is a widespread public belief that the correct method of disposal is to flush unwanted medicines into the waste stream but this brings with it huge environmental implications and this project will fund the correct disposal of such medicines.
All data will be examined in the light of national poisoning and suicide / parasuicide statistics. In particular, the possibility of a correlation between the drugs employed in suicide / parasuicide and the drugs that are unused / hoarded will be examined. The project will also endeavour to analyse correlation between medications prescribed and unused, trends in prescription practice and the cost of unwanted medicines to the Dept of Health.
A pilot project has been held in the South Western Area Health Board and in Phase 2 5 collections from 162 Pharmacies 5 collections to date yielded 7.26 tonnes of unwanted medicines. A similar scheme is to be launched in the Midlands region in early 2006. 3Ts believe that this project should be available countrywide.
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SUPPORT
3Ts fundraising regularly contributes to other voluntary organisations working in the area of Suicide Research, Intervention, Prevention or Support. Recent initiatives which have benefited from 3Ts funding include:
- All Ireland Suicide Survey
- Collin Project (Northern Ireland)
- Console: Centres in Clondalkin and Finglas and Seasons for Growth Programme for Schools & Colleges
- Parents Plus Programme in conjunction with Mater Foundation and Parents Plus Charity
- Teen-Line Ireland Helpline
- IASP International Conference Killarney August 07
€100,000 of funds raised in 2004 was presented by Padraig Harrington on behalf of 3Ts to a number of organisations involved in suicide research and prevention:
The funds raised by the 3T's have a very real impact on projects undertaken by these charities related to the research and prevention of suicide.
The Mater Foundation
The Mater Foundation received a donation of €10,000 which has been allocated to Professor Carol Fitzpatrick 's Child Guidance Clinic and has gone some way towards supporting young adolescents suffering from depression through its research project, “Working Things Out”. This project is currently piloting in selected Dublin schools within the Mater catchment area.
National Suicide Bereavement Support Network
The National Suicide Bereavement Support Network received a donation of €10,000 from the 3T's which has been allocated to the training of personnel in different areas of Critical Incident Stress Management. These individuals will be able to bring their acquired knowledge to their respective support groups and will improve the work they are already undertaking. The balance of the funds will contribute to nationwide seminars the group plan to host to explain de-briefing strategies
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POLITICAL LOBBYING:
3Ts is a founding member of the Action on Suicide Alliance (see www.actiononsuicidealliance.ie) which lobbies Government for full funding and implementation of Government’s own strategies and reports including National Suicide Prevention Strategy and Vision for Change.
3Ts is continually contacting Ministers and TDs to put Suicide on the Irish political radar. Prof Kevin Malone in 2006 profiled the tragedy of Suicide to The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health & Children. Click here for transcript of Prof Malone's presentation.
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3TS ARTS PROGRAMME
21 Grams: 3Ts collaborated in June 2005 with artist Seamus McGuinness in presenting his artwork “21 Grams”– a piece inspired by high number of suicides in Ireland . “ 21 Grams” (the perceived weight of the human soul) is a powerful creation depicting in excess of 90 suspended men's white shirt collars. Each shirt weighs 21 grams, symbolising the aftermath of suicide, the reverence of life and living, the life lost, and the void left behind. Seamus displayed this thought-provoking piece of Art in collaboration with 3Ts at a recent Conference in Dublin Castle entitled “Joyce, Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry” and again at a very prestigious 3Ts fundraising event in Dublin Castle in April 08.
McGuinness speaks candidly about 21 Grams subject matter, Suicide, emphasising the human loss and tragedy it visits on those left behind and the fact that it affects the living and the dead. He also highlights the randomness of Suicide, the fact that suicide affects people from all walks of life.
Seamus McGuinness was born in Donegal and now resides in Co Clare. He is a lecturer in Textiles at GMIT, Galway. His work has been exhibited at a number of solo and collaborative exhibitions and he has also created a number of public and corporate commissions .
To view images of the '21 Grams' exhibition download PDF here (2MB).
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