Emotional plea from mum inspires support for suicide prevention plan

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

The mum of a footballer who passed away two years ago has given an emotional welcome to plans for a new suicide prevention strategy.

Louise Davies’ son Kai died on the railway tracks near Dock Road in Mostyn in October 2023 aged just 22.

On Tuesday she was invited by Cllrs Pam Banks and Glyn Banks to speak to members of Flintshire’s Cabinet as they discussed an action plan to reduce suicide and self harm in the county.

Following the introduction of a 10-year Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Strategy by Welsh Government, the authority has agreed to draft a new plan to turn that strategy into practical actions to reduce incidents across Flintshire.

Fighting through tears, Louise thanked the Cabinet for inviting her to speak.

“I just want to thank Pam and Glyn for inviting me here today because it means so much for me to stand up in front of people and keep my boy’s name alive,” she said.

“Anything that can be done to prevent one family from going through the pain that we do every day from our boy not coming home has got to be accepted because something’s got to change.

“There’s too many boys and girls that go out laughing and don’t come home. I’ll never know the reason Kai never came home. Never, because there were no signs.

“I never want Kai to be forgotten. I’m no councillor but I want to be involved in stopping just one family, just one child, from experiencing what he went through.”

The data for Wales shows that there were 436 recorded suicides in 2024, 50 more than the previous year and almost 100 more than 2022.

In common with broader suicide data, the rate among men was significantly higher in Wales – with 25 deaths by suicide per 100,000 among men and 6.8  per 100,000 among women.

The highest rate of suicide was among men aged 45-49, with 41.2 per 100,000.

Objectives 

The new Welsh strategy to reduce self-harm and suicide features six objectives – Listening and learning, Preventing, Empowering, Supporting, Equipping and Responding.

It prioritises the need to listen to those affected to better understand suicide and self-harm and create infrastructure to tackle some of the core issues including mental health, bullying, trauma and domestic abuse.

To empower people the strategy aims to help people identify signs people may need help and provide guidance to public services and employment and voluntary sectors on having compassionate conversations and to provide access to the skills training required.

The strategy also highlights the need for reliable support services in education, domestic abuse support, prison and youth offending services  and employment support and will set a framework to provide timely support to those affected by suicide and self-harm across multiple agencies.

Support methods

The Flintshire action plan contains a number of practical support methods that have already been piloted, including all licensed taxi drivers being provided with leaflets to raise awareness about suicide support, grant funding for social enterprise group Outside Lives to improve outreach among men and the launch of a construction industry suicide awareness campaign at Ysgol Croes Atti.

A further report detailing additional actions the council will take in-line with the strategy will be presented in the new year.

“The impact of suicide is far reaching and devastating for people and communities,” said Cllr Glyn Banks.

“The strategy aims to reduce the number and rate of suicide deaths. It also aims to establish a pathway to support people who self-harm and to improve support for those bereaved by suicide.”

Cllr Helen Brown, Cabinet member for Housing and Communities, backed the proposal for Cabinet to approve a Flintshire Suicide and Self-Harm Action Plan to implement the Welsh Government strategy.

“A hell of a lot of work has already gone on behind the scenes on this with officers,” she said. “The report shows the council is already proactive in its approach to suicide awareness and prevention, however we could do more.

“Hopefully other councils will follow our lead, I believe Gwynedd are already in the process of implementing their action plan.”