The number of consultations at the Walloon Centre for Suicide Prevention "Un pass dans l'impasse", the only such centre in the region, has increased by nearly 40% since the pandemic, the Namur non-profit organisation recently announced.
According to the centre, an average of five people commit suicide every day in Belgium. Official figures from the health ministry state that Belgium has the highest suicide rates for both men and women among the EU-15, the fifteen states of the European Union who were members prior to enlargement. The rates are 1,6 times higher for men and 1,8 times higher for women than the average rate of the EU-15 countries.
In 2019, suicide was already the leading cause of death among 15–44-year-olds in Belgium, ahead of cancers and road accidents.
The health ministry states that between 2000 and 2019 – the last year in which statistical data are available, suicide rates among men decreased by 30% in the Flemish Region, by 27% in the Walloon Region (where the decrease started in 2008), and by 38% in the Brussels Capital Region. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of suicides has begun to creep up.
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Psychologists have noted a very sharp increase in anxio-depressive disorders, those combining depression with anxiety, especially among adolescents and young adults, with an increase in the intensity of suicidal tendencies and an increase in acts of violence and self-harm.
Faced with the succession of crises (health, energy, financial, and so on), this distress continues to grow within the population, the experts at "Un pass dans l'impasse" revealed.
Suicide sentinels
To counter this increase, the centre is calling on citizens to become "sentinels" in suicide prevention, the role of which is to detect a person in suicidal distress and trigger an alert. The sentinel can then act as a relay between the centre and the person in distress.
Sentinels can register on the website. They then receive an email containing a video on how to detect a person in distress and trigger an alert. Further training is then made available.
For anyone having suicidal feelings or for people concerned for friends or relatives, the centre recommends calling two numbers: 081 777 150 for suicide prevention in Wallonia and 0800 300 25, which refers to a support system for the self-employed in Wallonia and Brussels. Anyone with suicidal thoughts can also contact the Suicide Prevention Centre's helpline at 0800 32 123. It is anonymous, free, and available 24 hours a day.
More info can be found on the prevention suicide website.
