Grief, Suicide & Covid 19

I’ve been thinking for a few months now about what I would write about in my first post but then covid 19 came along and it seemed only appropriate to acknowledge the current situation and the thing that is on the forefront of everyone’s mind. 

Since the lockdown officially begun on 20th March I have been doing a lot of walking and running to help me cope with my grief and anxiety. I always wear my headphones and have a playlist on there of all the songs that remind me of James – The Stone Roses, Oasis, Killer by Seal and lot’s of other random tunes he used to sing, play and talk to me about – he was a very musical person and his songs have been a big part of my therapy. I often wonder how he would have coped with all this and often think of all the other people like James who live alone and are struggling with mental health, grief, loneliness and various other debilitating health issues in addition to Covid. I am astonished at the measures the government and public have gone to in order to stop the spread of the virus and offer support throughout this pandemic and please don’t think I am discrediting it, I guess I am just feeling frustrated that are government haven’t taken the same measures (or any at all) to tackle the huge mental health pandemic we are facing. 

800,000 per year die of suicide, this is set to double by the end of 2020

We have already lost 334,461, over double the amount of people lost to covid

Covid is life threatening and mental illness is life threatening, both are devastating and one of the things I can relate to is not being able to hold the hand of your loved one or say goodbye. This is truly heartbreaking and the one of that people grieving a loss to suicide and Covid have in common.