New Birmingham suicide prevention centre for men officially opens on Harborne Road
Prince William visits new James’ Place facility as charity says around 500 people die by suicide in Birmingham every year
A new suicide prevention centre for men has officially opened in Birmingham, with Prince William visiting the facility to highlight the importance of mental health support and suicide prevention.
The new James' Place centre on Harborne Road will offer free therapy and immediate support to men experiencing suicidal crisis from across Birmingham and the Black Country.
Speaking at the opening, Clinical Director Allan Brownrigg described the moment as “magical” and said the centre would help provide life-saving support to men at the point they need it most.
He said: “James’ Place is a centre for men in suicidal crisis. We offer free life-saving therapy for men who, as a result of life events, find themselves thinking that suicide might be an option for them.
“We support those men out of that crisis through six to eight sessions of free-to-access weekly therapy to help them process and understand the challenges and difficulties they have, what got them to that place, but more importantly what we can do to support them out of that place so that suicidal crisis passes.”
Mr Brownrigg said Birmingham was a crucial location for the charity’s latest centre because of the city’s high suicide rates.
“Sadly we know there’s about 500 deaths by suicide in Birmingham every year, so it’s a significant proportion of people who sadly are dying by something which is preventable,” he said.
“What we want to do here at James’ Place is really reach out to those people to let them know the experiences they have can be resolved, can be reduced, life can be improved, changes are possible.
“The rates of suicide in Birmingham are amongst some of the highest rates in the country, so it seemed really important that we’re here to support men in need now.”
The Prince of Wales toured the centre and met staff, supporters and former patients during the visit.
Mr Brownrigg said having Prince William open the facility helped send an important message around mental health and suicide prevention.
“Suicide is really difficult to talk about, but when you’re talking about suicide we also need to be talking about hope,” he said.
“This is preventable, we can support people, so having somebody like the Prince spearheading this is ensuring that message gets out there in a way other people can hear and bring themselves along to centres like ours to get the help they need at the time they need it.”
He also described the service as a major shift from other mental health settings where people often face long waits for support.
“I’ve worked in settings where the waiting list has been 18 months to two years for people coming in at a point of crisis to get the help they need,” he said.
“So for me personally, to enable people at the point of crisis to pick up the phone, to have a referral form within two days to be here being welcomed, cared for and supported, means everything I’ve ever done in my career has led to this.
“What we can do is offer the best care that we possibly can, really rapidly, and it means we’re saving people’s lives.”
During the visit, Prince William also spoke with men who had previously used James’ Place services.
Mr Brownrigg said one of the most important moments from the day came during a conversation between the Prince and former patients.
“The men were articulate, they were just regular men like the rest of us from all sorts of different walks of life and backgrounds,” he said.
“One of the reflections the Prince made was that he was astonished he was talking to a group of men who’d been in suicidal crisis because to listen to them now, feeling really rounded and grounded and supported, was incredible.
“For me that was a really important message — this can happen to anybody. Let’s not be influenced by shame or stigma, but instead start conversations and really see what we can do to learn about this in more detail.”
Mr Brownrigg said despite the difficult nature of suicide prevention work, the service is ultimately built around hope.
“When you’re working in suicide prevention it’s always a story of hope,” he said.
“We can help people go from a state of crisis where they think they have no option to a place of hope whereby they want to live their life.
“Whatever people are experiencing, there is hope, there are people who care, there are people who have got them.”