This is an emergency. As urgent as an infant playing with a loaded gun or an infant on the edge of a tall building. In such cases, everyone would act immediately, with parental instincts kicking in, removing the child from harm.

 Now, give the child a few more years and place him in the exact same situation. The child would die without anyone batting an eyelid. There is no instinct for brotherly love. He becomes a number, a statistic. Alive only in hushed, taboo gossip. He is the victim of suicide. 

Our bodies, commanded by the brain, are the product of millions of years of perfectioning through evolution, and we have yet to evolve. 

If faced with an angry tiger, in an interestingly algorithmic manner, our brain chooses to either fight or fly, saving itself is paramount. All the organs of our body coordinate accordingly to bring us out of harm’s way. 

It is an ingenius product of biology. 

However, there are occasions of extreme or abnormal stress, such as mental illness, substance abuse or unbearable emotional reactions, where the brain may oppose itself and devise ways to end its conscious existence. It is a little-known fact that suicidal activity is not necessarily the product of mental illness, including substance abuse. Rather it can be a behavioural, mindless and impulsive response, detached from mental illness. 

If this notion does not strike you as something profoundly terrible, then you may not have fully comprehended the 

situation. This is describing a suicide crisis in its most basic form. 

In speaking in such animalistic terms, we omit the great psychological and emotional pain of the victim and the terrible grief of the family and friends left behind.

The latter is one of the reasons I chose to omit statistics in this urgent appeal. Statistics give no importance to the unique history and circumstances of the suicide victim. Rather, they fool people into believing that since only a tiny percentage of the population is lost to suicide, it is an insignificant cause of death.

Numbers do not have faces or families. Indeed, what is the face of a suicidal person? It could be the everyman, your neighbour, your aunt and even yourself. No one is safe. 

Another aspect of my omission of statistics is the average spread. By which I mean the incorrect notion that an equal number of suicides occur every month of the year. This is wrong. In fact, part of my urgency is the evidence that there is a spike in suicide rates at this festive time of year. 

Some may argue that I am fearmongering and I will not object. I refuse to leave these victims of themselves, of a bad moment, to become insignificant and unworthy of help. Every life counts and there shall be no fitful rest with the knowledge that as we speak, people continue to die. 

There is no national, governmental suicide crisis helpline. This is the emergency. It appears that there used to be one, however it was dissolved. In its place are resources provided by Aġenzija Appoġġ and other mental health organisations. The issue with these is that they cater primarily to other crises linked with drugs and violence for example. 

Every minute we can put off someone taking their own life is something richly won

Hence I wonder how capable, by which I mean training, they are to deal with an acute suicide crisis. I also fear that due to sheer workload and restricted time, they may not be able to help the person in crisis as well and with enough urgency. This is not their fault. In short, the suicidal individual’s last grasp at life is compromised. A specially trained team, working 24/7 is essential.

I appeal directly to Minister for Health Chris Fearne to create such a team. I understand that the government cannot create things overnight with magic, but I hope the urgency of the matter is at least grasped.

Funds may certainly be a problem, however is it just to put a price on someone’s life? In your favour, there is a surplus of graduated psychologists and mental health personnel: your workforce is at the ready.

I cannot let my voice go unheard. If the government, the official guardian of the Maltese people, will not rise to this challenge, then the people must act. 

I appeal to all the mental health organisations in Malta to speak out, apply pressure. Your voices may be stronger than mine. Off the top of my head, I appeal to the Richmond Foundation, the Mental Health Association of Malta, the Alliance for Mental Health Care.

 I will also take the matter as far as to appeal to the Archbishop of Malta and to the President of the Republic. Undoubtedly, you are both familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy for Self-Actualisation. It is very pertinent to both your roles as I understand. 

The suicidal person, undermines it below it’s very base of physiological needs: he removes its force, life, making it impossible to reach any inclusion in any society or feel any love. Both of which are at the base of your roles. I humbly ask for your support.

This is an emergency. I hope that my words will not fall unheard into the abyss of societal indifference. Even the creation of the tiniest ripple of change, with your help reader, is considered something great to me. 

We are dealing with lives, people: mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Every minute we can put off someone taking their own life is something richly won.

Andrea Caruana is a student nurse.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece