lifelineqld.org.au
Geoff knows what it’s like to lose men in his life to suicide. His father died by suicide when Geoff was just 14 years old.
“That had a massive impact on me growing up,” he says.
Then, when he was in his late forties, two of Geoff’s friends died by suicide within six months of each other.
Geoff felt he had to do something after the loss of so many men in his own life, and then seeing how many men die by suspected suicide each year. He says that “really hit home.”
He wasn’t sure where to start—until he saw a TV story about a woman, Donna, who trained as a Lifeline Crisis Support Volunteer after surviving a suicide attempt.
“That’s it,” he thought. “That’s what I can do.”
Geoff’s a father and a former lawyer, so he’s handled some tough situations in his life. But he was still pretty daunted about the idea of “answering calls with people who were talking about self-harm or suicide.”
But he says the training “was excellent in terms of preparing you to take calls.”
Geoff also discovered how vital it is for volunteers like him to have professional supervisors as backup on shifts at Lifeline Queensland.
He took a call from a man who said his wife had left him and taken the kids.
“He told me he was having strong suicidal thoughts. He said, ‘My kids would be better off without me.’”
Geoff knew what was at stake on that call—and he knew it from painful personal experience.
“It was pretty much recounting what my own dad went through,” he says.
It was after Geoff’s parents separated that his father died by suicide.
Thankfully, Geoff signalled to his supervisor that he needed help with the call. And it was thanks to caring, compassionate Lifeline Queensland supporters like you that we had the resources to help two people that day.
Geoff was able to help the man who was convinced his children would be better off without him.
“I had a good chat with the guy. He calmed down and decided to get in contact with his brother and get some help, and go to his doctor.”
After that call, Geoff needed to talk it over with his supervisor because it reminded him of his own painful past.
“That one was really close to home.”
But he was soon back on the lines again.
Geoff says he wonders ‘what if?’ about the men in his own life who have died by suicide.
“I can imagine if they did reach out for help, calling Lifeline and speaking with someone at the other end. And that’s the critical bit.
You’d like to think that there’s somebody that they could call and talk to—because that’s a really, really big decision to be facing alone.”
Geoff has been volunteering for Lifeline Queensland for over three years now.
“There are a lot of lonely people out there, a lot of people who are on their own. They either don’t have family or they’re estranged from their family, or they don’t have much of a friend network.”
A lot of those people are men. Someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s mate. A man who is loved, despite what he might think in a moment of loneliness or crushing pressure.
This Christmas, you can help someone hold on
Over the holiday period, Lifeline will see a surge of people in crisis reaching out for help.
Dedicated volunteers like Geoff will sign up for shifts over that intense period—but they’ll need a break in the New Year.
Your Christmas gift today could help train and support more Crisis Support Volunteers like Geoff—so that no one has to face their darkest moment alone.
Please give what you can. Your kindness could help save a life.
