SEPTEMBER IS SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH | OCTOBER IS MENTAL HEALTH MONTH!

 The YOUMATTERWALK for suicide awareness will take place on Saturday, 1 October 2022 from 06:00 for early birds, and open until midday at the Hillcrest Sports Campus of the University of Pretoria. Information and tickets are available on www.youmatterwalk.co.za. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families and communities – causing heartache, devastation and unanswered questions. No life should end too soon!

‘Suicide is still a very taboo topic in our current society – no one wants to talk about, no one knows how to talk about it, and parents don’t want to talk to their children about it, in case it ‘plants ideas’. However, suicide is a very real issue in South Africa and we can see that by the increasing number of calls we are receiving every day to the suicide helpline from people all over the country,’ (Chambers, SADAG).

The YouMatterWalk was born from the hearts of three women affected by suicide loss (Christia, Ilse and Carla) and the walk is aimed at creating awareness and saying YOU MATTER, let’s talk about it, there is always hope! The message is three-fold, i.e. to:

• give people hope by encouraging them to talk about their struggles with suicidal thoughts and to create awareness by reminding everyone – it’s okay to not be okay.
• crush the hush-hush around mental health and suicide, and
• give hope and support to those affected by suicide loss through various organisations and support groups

Christia Uys

Ilse Meiring

Carla de Jager

If we could give one person hope to stay – we would know that we did some good by saving a family from the heartache and devastation left behind by suicide. Louisa Zondo, mother of Riky Rick, will join the YouMatterWalk and will talk to us about ‘the heart of a mother’.

The programme will be as follows: