'They’re crying out for help’: Limerick suicide prevention group on tales of sadness and hope

“I’d be driving past the bridges and I’d see this team with their luminous jackets,” says Lee. “I’d be like: ‘This is absolutely awesome — what these people are doing?’ Because at the time I lost my mom, they weren’t as active and doing it, from what I’d seen. I noticed it and I was like: ‘That is something I definitely want to be part of.’ ”

Lee has been out on patrol with the group since 2017. In between boxing matches, he tries to go down to the river once or twice a week.

“I’ve become friends with the team members, with these amazing people,” he says.

Through my own kind of experiences with suicide is why I became a member, and no regrets, I never looked back since

When it comes to the worst and someone enters the waters, the volunteers ring the Coast Guard straight away to activate an emergency response. Within five minutes, a fire ambulance and a marine search and rescue helicopter make their way to the river — but sometimes there is not enough time.

Last March, Lee was on patrol when they received a call about a woman who was in the water. As she was not responsive, he did not think twice and jumped in to rescue her.

“A lady was in the water, face down. So, we ran up and we did what we were trained to do — pass in the throw bags and do everything off the bridge.

“But the lady wasn’t responsive, she wasn’t grabbing the ropes or anything like that. So I ended up going off the side of the bridge into the water.

I ended up in the water holding on to the lady, wrapped around the rope for, like, 28 minutes.

“That was definitely a very memorable night, and a very difficult night for all of the team to see. But thankfully the lady got saved, her life and her family was saved that night.”

At present, more than 50 members patrol on the banks of the river every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8pm until the early hours of the morning. During the rest of the week, Limerick Suicide Watch is on duty.

Keen to raise awareness and encourage people to reach out, Lee says a “problem shared is a problem halved”.

“If you speak of your problems, it really does get easier and a weight definitely does get lifted off your shoulders. Just putting yourself out there is probably the most brave, the best thing you can do,” he smiles.

You’re not alone, and you’re not a burden to anybody — 99% of people would rather stay up late and lose their night’s sleep talking to you than hear the next day that your life is gone

When it comes to mental health, he says there is no “one shoe fits all” situation. It’s a sentiment shared by David O’Mahony, who joined Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention two years ago.

After covid hit, David was inspired by healthcare workers and decided to start a paramedic course. One of his friends told him about the suicide prevention group.

“Most people think it’s people who are dealing with drug abuse or homeless people,” he says. “It’s not. It’s actually also everyday people, people who are doctors, nurses, cooks. And then people who suffer from addiction or people who suffer from homelessness.”

David stresses that there is not one singular profile they come across.

“It can affect anyone, and a lot of people don’t even realise why they’re coming to the river. They kind of just think ‘I’ll go down here because it’s isolated and I can have a bit of a break and time off’ , and then they start to look at the river and the river starts to call them and stuff like that — and that’s when we come in.”

When approached, a lot of people say that they are not suicidal. However, once the volunteers get chatting to them, they eventually open up.

“Most of the time, we’re only talking for a few minutes, and the person is doing the majority of the talking,” says David.

For the first time in their lives, they’ve talked about how they’re feeling

"They’re talking to strangers, so there’s no pressure of judgment, or family judgment,  or anything like that.”

Over the past five years, Limerick has consistently had the highest rate of suicide in Ireland — a stark statistic that has seen it labelled ‘Suicide City’ by some.

David recalls one particular episode which has been left imprinted on his mind, where he saw someone of his own age by the riverside for three nights in a row.

“At the time I was 22,” he recalls. “Seeing someone my age at the riverside … Their story was so dark and depressing. They went missing, myself and another member actually went on a day patrol to go search for them because we thought something really bad had happened.”

According to David, the best place to start in the hope of making change is education. Through an outreach programme, some of the group’s members have been going to schools in a bid to open up the conversation.

“I think the best place to start is school, it’s to teach, not necessarily suicide or stuff like that, but teach children how to open up and talk, mindfulness, how to talk to yourself, how to talk to others,” he says.

“But I think also because Limerick is very socio-economically bad, a lot of people are suffering from poverty and they turn to drugs or alcohol, and that leads to depression and suicide.”

Michelle Meaney joined the group in 2020 just after the first lockdown. Now, she is Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention's chairwoman.

All of the volunteers have gut-wrenching stories of what they experienced by the riverside, and Michelle is no different.

“We’ve all had really bad experiences with people on the river that we hold on to,” she says. “We’d have what I suppose we call our regulars, the people that we’d see a lot.

“And for me, that’s really hard, because these are people who want help, who’ve asked for help, and they’re not getting the help that they want or need.

We have people who are self-harming all the time in front of us, and trying to sit there with that, that is extremely hard

Michelle notes that a lot of mental health services are available, but that sometimes people can find themselves on the waiting lists for a while — which shows how dire the situation is.

“It’s devastating that it’s every year. People are crying out for help, for a change within the mental health system, and it’s not happening,” she says.

Recently, a task force initiative in liaison with the gardaí started in Limerick in a bid to make assessments and take pressure off ambulances and hospitals.

But, according to Michelle, the Government needs to take steps to relieve hospitals where patients in urgent need of mental health care are being sent away with referral letters.

“It’s hard to deal with the hospital, we hear it day in and day out,” she says.

“When we deal with somebody and we’re like ‘we can get you an ambulance’, they’re like ‘what’s the point? They’re going to tell me to go home, they’ll give me a referral for somebody who’s going to say: 'I can’t take you for six months'.'"

“The waiting lists are so long. If the Government, the hospitals, could even just change how they do their referral schemes, that would make a huge, huge difference.

 They have to do it, because there are lives being lost that don’t need to be lost

“We’re coming across people who want to end their lives, they know that’s the end game. They know they don’t want to wake up tomorrow.

“And they walk out of there, and an hour later, they’re being handed a letter. They’re not even being talked to.”

Once the volunteers meet those people again, she says they sometimes don’t have it in them to reach out for help again.

“Their fight has gone from inside them, and it’s heartbreaking to see.”

Michelle would like to see hospitals offer a designated area where people can be assessed.

“There’s no reason why somebody in a mental health crisis should sit in an emergency department. They could be sitting there for 12 hours. They’re in a state of panic, they need help. 

"They need to be talked to there and then, they’re already paranoid enough and think everybody else around them knows they’re going through a mental health crisis, and it’s making them worse.”

The group, which gets no Government funding, is now able to offer a safe riverside space with their camp van, with warmth and privacy, for those who need it.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Chloe Nash joined the group a little while ago. Since then, she has been first aid-trained and assist-trained.

The young woman regrets that mental health is still taboo in Ireland.

“People don’t feel comfortable talking about it,” says Chloe. “Ireland still has the mentality of ‘you can’t talk about it’. Mental health is taboo, there’s that feeling of you have to hide it a bit.”

Nevertheless, she notes there will always be somebody who will notice.

“No matter whether it’s our helpline that you call or if you come down to see us, you’re never going to get shut down. We won’t shut you down. We always answer.”

You can call Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention 24/7 via 085 78 45 347.

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.