THOUSANDS of beer mats which aim to reduce the amount of people taking their own lives are set to be distributed to pubs across Furness.

Suicide Safer Barrow is hoping to increase awareness with messages on beer mats and posters which are going to be distributed across the region through a ‘Pub-crawl of Hope’.

Suicide Safer Barrow coordinator Michael Cassells said: “My role is to work with the community to have more suicide awareness in the area.

“I have to distribute more than 7,000 beer mats around the Furness area.

“The response from people wanting to help distribute has been amazing.

“We are offering every bar or venue in the Barrow and Dalton area 100 beermats plus posters with a positive message that there is hope.

“I have had enquiries from Dalton, Barrow, and Walney.

“Already 40 venues have agreed to display them. First to sign up were the Castle Hotel Biggar Bank and The Newton Arms Dalton.

“I do not want this to be a one off. I hope to be running events and workshops as well in the near future.”

Every Life Matters has a vision of a community where people can talk openly about suicide where people are able to recognise when someone is at risk of suicide, and have the skills to help someone experiencing suicidal thoughts, and knowledge of the services available locally and nationally.

At the start of the launch of ‘Suicide Safer’, the group had 10,000 beermats and posters with a message of hope that need distributing round bars, clubs and cafes in the Barrow & Dalton areas.

Chris Wood, development manager at Every Life Matters, said: “We launched our ‘Suicide Safer’ campaign in May to help people to try and talk more about suicide and to try to get people to understand the risks and what they can do to help as well as providing support contact numbers.

“75 percent of those who complete suicide were not in contact with support and the beer mats and posters are just a reminder that you can open up, and there is help.

“We are launching this all across Cumbria but we have chosen Barrow and Copeland to focus on first as they have a higher than the national average of suicide rate.

“One in five people have thought about suicide, and if they bottle it up, this feeling can be overwhelming.

“We are running suicide prevention workshops with BAE and apprentices and we are running regular sessions in Barrow, and people can book on to them on our website.

“The best placed people to tackle suicide prevention are people you see every day. People often say they did not see it coming, but often you can if you know what you are looking for.”

Visit www.every-life-matters.org.uk. Support is available from Samaritans on 116 123.