Strengths and challenges

It’s two months into the project and the documentary is coming along nicely. I have had the pleasure of conducting numerous interviews which have all been incredibly insightful in their own ways. However, the project has equally faced some challenges along the way.
 

STRENGTHS

– I have been very lucky in gaining access to a variety of people have all been very open to sharing their stories with me and I have had a great response from those in the suicide prevention community who have been very willing to speak to me. So far I have spoken too:
 

LEFT BEHIND – an area of my blog dedicated to showing what life is like for those left behind after suicide.

• Caroline Chandler – Caroline, who lost her dad to suicide 29 years ago, is based in St Albans, was my first interviewee. Caroline told me that her 47 year old father was facing financial difficulties at the time of his death, and was the main breadwinner in his second marriage – something Caroline blames as a catalyst for his death. Caroline believes that there was not as much support for families bereaved by suicide as there is now, which she believes shows some progression in breaking down the taboo surrounding suicide. To listen to the whole interview, click here.

• Julie Newton-I met Julie Newton, in Hemel Hempstead at her home. She told me how male suicide has impacted upon her life, due to her son Jake’s suicide attempt two years ago. She believes that it is increasingly difficult for families members of those who have attempted suicide, to open up about their struggles to both family and professionals, due to their inability to relate. Hear her story by clicking here.

• Stuart Falconer – Stuart is a father of Morgan, a 15 year old teenager, who took his own life last year. In response to Morgan’s passing, Stuart set up a suicide prevention charity with two other parents who lost a child to suicide. Stuart told me that since his late son’s passing his whole outlook on life has changed, his social skills, personality and general fears about life. He also mentioned that he believes very little people are comfortable to talk about suicide due to the subject being deemed as ‘shocking’. Click here, to listen to Stuart’s story about life after suicide.

• Mary McCarthy – Mary works for Cruse Bereavement Care, which is a national charity supporting those bereaved throughout the United Kingdom. Mary has worked with many people who have been affected by suicide, as well as working within prisons across England facilitating support groups for prisoners who have also been affected by suicide. She believes that the expectation for men to be ‘strong,tough and unemotional’ is often a barrier for them to get the help they may need.

• Dr Andrew Mayers – I met Dr Mayers in his psychology office, and he told me that he the gender difference in suicide rates has numerous factors that could affect suicide rates, such as men choosing more fatal methods in comparison to females. He also spoke about a new Samaritans scheme which he thinks will improve mental health awareness, click here to find out more.I will be speaking to these individuals within the next week:

   

• Pete Trainor – Pete is the Director of Human Centred Design for Nexus, and has been researching and exploring whether technology could have prevented suicides. Through his research he has found that men in general appear to have a difficulty in talking to other people, but have a great ease in talking to technology.

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– I have made good process on the production stages on the documentary; for example I have been creating video and audio elements for my blog as seen below. I am starting to begin to organise how my documentary will be produced and formulate a running order – I have edited my interviews into sections which will help with the assembly process.

 

CHALLENGES

During the course of the project, I have come across a few issues, such as I am finding that I have too many interviews, with too much amazing content and trying to fit this all into 7 minutes is proving editorially challenging, specifically for the ‘Left Behind’ content which is incredibly emotional.

Editorially I am going to have to pick the most powerful and emotional story, that all my readers can relate too, for my documentary, however once speaking to my case studies and spending a great deal of time finding out about their stories and experiences it is quite challenging to decided which is the most suitable.

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