With crisis calls & texts to the suicide prevention charity at record high levels, Pieta has launched a new recruitment drive to meet this increase in demand.
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20th July 2022: Pieta, Ireland’s national suicide prevention charity, has released its Annual Report for 2021 showing a 30% increase calls and texts to the organistions crisis Helpline team compared with 2020, contributing to the need for additional therapists as the demand for services increase.
In 2021 alone, Pieta received over 97,000 crisis calls and texts, provided over 48,000 hours of free one-to-one suicide intervention and bereavement counselling sessions, and over 600 households were directly supported by Pieta’s Suicide Bereavement Liaison team.
Pieta is committed to recruiting more therapists across Ireland to bolster its clinical team which continues to see demand for its services rise. This year to date, the organisation has delivered 10% more hours of therapy, compared with the first six months of 2021 and has seen calls and texts to its Helpline team at record high levels.
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(Left to right) Clinical Director of Pieta - Emma Dolan, CEO of Pieta - Stephanie Manahan, Minister of Health - Mary Butler, Pieta Board Chair - Celine Fitzgerald.
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Stephanie Manahan, Pieta CEO, said; “2021 was a challenging year for many people across the country, when living with Covid became a reality for us all. This has caused anxiety for some individuals who have struggled to cope with the stress of lockdowns and restricted socialisation with family and friends. Our Clinical team have worked tirelessly to ensure our services have been available for all those who need us, both in-person and via our Helpline.
To meet the ongoing demand for our services we are expanding our Clinical function to support our clients in all of centres nationwide and also to ensure that those who cannot easily travel to one of our centres can still receive free counselling via the phone or video call.”
Pieta’s qualified counsellors specialise in suicide prevention and tackling self-harm. The charity has centres nationwide and Pieta’s Freephone Crisis Helpline is open 24/7. All services are provided free of charge and no referral is needed. If you are in crisis, you can contact Pieta’s Crisis Helpline on 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444.
For more information and help visit www.pieta.ie
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