Andrew Austin: Reach out for help if needed

In yesterday's Hawke's Bay Today, our columnist Ana Apatu, who is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust in Flaxmere, wrote what I considered to be a very brave column.

The column was about suicide - a subject that most of the media, including this paper, is very careful how it reports.

However, we can't get away from the fact that it is an issue in our communities.

Ana wrote very sensitively about the problem and all the hard work that is being done by a variety of agencies to provide help and support to those touched by this scourge of our society.

She mentioned that she had been invited to attend the Hawke's Bay District Health Board's Fusion Group meeting, which was a group established to provide guidance and allocate resources in response to suspected suicides in Hawke's Bay.

This is the correct way to deal with this issue - everyone working together to find a solution and simply to show the vulnerable people in our community that there is hope and that help and support is at hand.

To people in dark places, it must feel like they are all alone. It is up to the community to show them that they are not, and whatever they are facing in their lives they can overcome it.

It's all about getting the message through and it is here that we all have a role to play to support the vulnerable, very often young members of our society who have lost hope.

If you feel like you need help, get in touch with Lifeline 0800 543 354 and commonground.org.nz or depression.org.nz.