An online petition has been launched calling on the Isle of Wight council and National Trust to place a phone box on Culver Cliff.
Tragically, many lives have been lost at the East Wight location over the decades and support teams are now calling for urgent action to be taken to provide a means for those feeling desperate to be able to reach out to someone who could help.
Gennive Woolston and Sarah Mitchell are the founders of the Supporting and Empowering Lives Foundation (SELF) – an Island group made up of ‘families of suicide victims set up to promote suicide awareness and support.’
Signage planned
Gennive says they have been in talks with the council about having a phone box placed at the top of the cliff, but this appears to have been met with resistance from them.
She’s been informed that signage providing contact details for The Samaritans is due to be placed at the location shortly, which Gennive says is a good start.
Taking visitors into consideration
However, she raises the issue of vulnerable people at the location perhaps not having enough credit on their phones to make the call, or suffering lack of reception or a flat battery.
She goes on to say,
“We asked about permission to place a phone box there – just permission – We would find a way to fund it ourselves.
“We were told that they were going to see how the signage went first before anything too ‘elaborate’ because they had to take into consideration the look and visitors to Culver!”
The Petition
Although the SELF team have found a piece of private land that the proprietors have kindly agreed for them to put a phone box on, it’s argued this should not have to be done by the community.
The petition reads,
The SELF team – who are the Island’s suicide awareness, prevention and support team – are petitioning the Isle of Wight Council and National Trust to place a phone box with helplines and support literature on Culver Cliff.
Lives are being lost, if we can save one life we have been successful.
At time of publishing the petition had attracted 1,246 signatures.
Need help?
If you are in a situation where you feel desperate and need someone to talk to, please call The Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90.
Just having someone to talk to that isn’t family or friends can be a tremendous help. You don’t have to be suicidal to get in touch. Their service can help people before it’s too late.
For a less immediate response, you can contact them via email on [email protected]
Image: arg_flickr under CC BY 2.0
