Lucky to receive years of counselling and mental health support, paid for and supported by the government’s public health system. How a country can maintain that the act of suicide, an act of utter desperation and despair, should continue to receive punishment is beyond me. Decriminalising suicide is not going to solve the issue overnight, but it is about sending signals. Sending signals to those who are struggling with mental health that it is OK to struggle and it is OK to seek help, sending signals to those who survive that what they need is care, support and compassion and not the threat of imprisonment. Sending signals to society that this is an issue which needs to be taken seriously and addressed, but addressed with a compassionate hand not an iron fist.
