The quays of Cork will light up with candles this evening to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.
Volunteers from Cork Penny Dinners High Hopes Choir and Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery will gather at Albert Quay for their annual Bridges of Hope remembrance ceremony.
The ceremony will begin at the Plaza opposite the Clayton Hotel and is for all of those whose lives have been touched by suicide.
New figures show that 524 people died by suicide in Ireland in 2019, 16 fewer than the previous year.
The HSE funded charity Turn2Me offers free, professional mental health services which run 365 days a year and offers adult counselling and peer support services to adults and young people over 12.
Speaking to RedFM News, Cofounder of Turn2me, Oisin Scollard, is encouraging people who are struggling to reach out and ask for help:
"It's really easy to access you go on to Turn2Me.ie you setup on account. You don't even have to turn your camera on if you want to just engage in, in text based counselling with a professional counsellor and it's really easy, it removes that barrier. You can do it from home. You don't have to go and present somewhere which can sometimes be difficult for people and lead to stigma. So it's really an easy way to start that journey and open up and start your conversation about what's going on with your life. Or in your head."
