A heart-breaking speech by Jessie Joe Jacobs is going viral on social media after she highlighted the highest rate of suicide among young women ever.
The former youth worker told the story of a young girl who was distressed, crying and walking into the sea in a passionate speech delivered to the Labour Party Conference yesterday.
Her intervention prevented a potential suicide, but as Jacobs asks, “who would she have talked to if not a stranger on the beach?”
The poignant question comes as suicide rates amongst young women are at their highest point in recorded history.
In Jacobs words: “In ten years the rates have nearly doubled.
“Self-harm and eating disorders are on the rise, and the feeling of not being able to cope is a national and growing trend.
“But meanwhile youth services have been decimated.
“Youth clubs and Sure Start Centres closed down.
“Early interventions all but gone.
“Those free dance classes that provided a respite have disappeared.
“Child mental health services over capacity.
“Schools stretched and councils facing unprecedented cuts.
“By 2020 authorities will receive £15.7 billion less than they were in 2010.
“And who is this hurting?
“It’s hurting those girls on the beach.”
Watch the full speech below:
