When radio host Frank Zammit resorted to social media to open up about his mental health struggles and his close brush with suicide, he was flooded with messages of support.

One after the other, people shared words of encouragement, and told him that he is not “alone”.

But for the popular Vibe FM radio host, such messages were part of the problem.

“It’s great that people tell you ‘you are not alone’ and that they understand what you are feeling, but what are we doing about this feeling?”, he told Times of Malta.

“People tell me to just keep swimming, and it will get better, but seriously, we need to see where the water is coming from before we start to drown.”

On the eve of his 39th birthday, in an Instagram post, Zammit recalled how on the night between July 2 and 3 he “was done and ready to end it all”.

“I write this today not because I want anyone’s pity. I am lucky to have family and friends I could count on when I needed them,” he wrote.

He stressed that his post was intended to stop the stigma on mental health and suicide to end.

“So here it is… this is me and I’m not always OK… now what are we going to do about the elephant in the room?”

‘Strangers sharing suicidal thoughts’

Zammit said he had been planning to share his story for a while but wanted to wait to make sure he was prepared for the overwhelming response he would receive.

Apart from messages of encouragement, people also reached out to him and revealed they also tried to kill themselves.

“They told me loved ones died by suicide very recently, we are talking just a couple of weeks ago. And this is what makes me more frustrated – it keeps happening and we aren’t talking about it enough.”

Zammit spoke out a few days after World Suicide Prevention Day, with statistics showing that in Malta, there were an average of two deaths by suicide per month for the last 11 years. The statistics also found that 83 per cent of those deaths were males.

He said he meets many people who share his frustration and depression, yet nothing is being done about it.

“My post is not a cry for help for my situation, but a cry for help for the situation in general.”

When asked what had almost pushed him to the edge, he said it was a build-up of several things.

“Looking back, I realised that my sadness, frustration and depression have been around for the past year. On that day in July, I remember waking up and thinking no matter how hard I try to improve my situation, be it my social life or career, I felt I was falling behind rather than moving forward.”

He said he aborted his plan at the eleventh hour, and the next day reached out for help.

“I’m lucky, I got to my breaking point, but managed to move away from it, but there are others who are not so lucky. There are others who do not find support or the courage to open up in the first place.”

COVID, society’s apathy among root problems

“Looking around, the problem is the way we are living right now,” he said.

“It is clear we are still recuperating from COVID-19. Businesses are still trying to get back what they lost from those two years, and the same can be said for people too.”

Many keep ignoring the alarming situation and things can only get worse.

“We keep polluting our air, poisoning our food and burning ourselves out with our lifestyle, but we clearly are doing nothing about it,” he said.

He compared the mental health situation to the overdevelopment on the island.

“I see so many people complaining about the level of construction, but all I see are cranes and dust, and no one doing anything about it, so we just complain and nothing changes.”

When it comes to mental health, we are missing the right conversations, he insists.  “Also, there is only so much talking and campaigning we can do,” he added.

“Campaigning is important, but I believe we get to a point where it becomes frustrating because no action is taken. We know suicide rates are high during Christmas and New Year, but what is being done to support people?”

Long-term as well as immediate solutions are needed to ensure that mental health issues are addressed correctly.

“We need to help those who are going through this now but also prepare future generations to be ‘tooled up’. What I see right now is that many people reach out for help when they are at their lowest point, and it shouldn’t be the case.”

Everyone, from civil society to policymakers need to work together and stop ignoring the elephant in the room.

“Speak out when you need help and are vulnerable and remember it is OK not to be OK,” he said.

If you need emotional support, you can call Richmond Malta’s helpline on 1770. Alternatively, type OLLI.Chat on your desktop, mobile or tablet browser to chat with a professional 24/7.