C.A.L.M Launches In London

Written by Manu Ekanayake Monday, 28 November 2011 21:06

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The Campaign Against Living Miserably (C.A.L.M) is a helpline and text service that aims to tackle a terrible truth: the biggest killer of young men in the UK is suicide.

Last Friday 25^th November, BnB was lucky enough to be a guest at the launch of the London CALMzone, which provides a helpline and text service for young men who feel they have nowhere else to turn. C.A.L.M is a UK charity that has cut young male suicide rates by 55% in Merseyside since it started operating there back in 2000. But in the words of their good friend Eddy Temple-Morris of XFM, ‘Even if it was only a 5% reduction, they’d still be happy. And it would still be worth it.’

Eddy has been working with C.A.L.M since the death of Charles Haddon, lead singer of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, who died by his own hand in August 2010 after an appearance at the Pukkelpop festival. Eddy was a good friend of Charles and his bandmates, in particular Charles’ best friend, Joe Hutchinson. At the press conference, Eddy paid tribute to the quiet dignity and poise Joe has shown since their mutual friend’s passing, especially in his work in support of C.A.L.M. But he also mentioned that since he’d been working with the charity, the feedback he had from the press regarding suicide had mainly been, ‘It’s boring, it’s not a story and nobody cares’. Needless to say, Eddy doesn’t agree with this and he was happy to say so…

So now with the charity’s launch in London some very hard truths need to be faced, which leads us to the comments of London comedian(and C.A.L.M’s patron) David Baddiel, ‘Nine out of ten Londoners (90%) do not know that suicide is the single biggest killer of young men in the capital. Instead, nearly half the population in London incorrectly believes either that knife and gun crime (25%) or road accidents (24%) pose a greater threat to young men’s lives than suicide (10%). In reality, 119 men aged between 15 and 34 in London killed themselves last year, compared with 59 assaults and 56 road traffic accidents.’

After the press conference, we headed down to Topman on Oxford Street where a host of London’s best DJs (including Zane Lowe, Mistajam, Rob Da Bank, Kissy Sell Out and Hervé) took over a floor of the shop for a free soundclash, playing some excellent back-to-back sets to raise awareness of C.A.L.M’s London launch.

UK callers can reach the C.A.L.M hotline on 0800 825858 (outside London it’s 0800 585858) for free – it’s anonymous too. Londoners can also text to 07537 404717. Begin your first text with ‘CALM1’, but do note that while they don’t charge, your network might do so.

Please call if you you need to. Because as C.A.L.M says, ‘Being silent isn’t being strong’.