Jeremy Forbes: How to start a conversation about suicide
Jeremy Forbes: Comment engager une conversation sur le suicide
Through his charity HALT, Jeremy Forbes aims to break through the stigma attached to mental health, raise awareness through education and empower men to open up conversations around mental health and suicide prevention. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
qui a changé ma vie.
country town in central Victoria.
au milieu de l'état de Victoria.
for his workmanship with steel.
pour sa maîtrise du travail de l'acier.
some steel edging for the garden.
en acier pour mon jardin.
which is a wonderful gift,
ce qui est un cadeau merveilleux,
down the end of Pete's street
was a tradie, or a tradesman.
in the Australian vernacular.
dans le jargon australien.
dans votre communauté.
C'était l'hiver.
and the community members,
et les membres de la communauté,
of another underlying tragic level.
d'autres choses tragiques.
in that community hall
dans cette salle
other people were going through.
d'autres personnes faisaient face.
was contained in two words
pouvait se résumer en quatre mots,
where I was standing in a community hall
où je me tenais dans cette salle,
this Castlemaine community
où la communauté de Castlemaine
tant de soutien depuis 20 ans,
I'd played footy there,
mon travail,
j'y ai fait du théâtre,
for what they'd given me.
de ce qu'elle m'avait offert.
that hall as well,
drugs, finance, gambling,
de drogue, d'argent, avec le jeu,
à cause de ma culture d'ouvrier,
that we have in the tradie community,
dans notre communauté,
I lacked the experience.
Je manquais d'expérience.
but I wanted to do something.
mais je voulais faire quelque chose.
ouvriers et j'ai dit :
to them or what to tell them.
from Catherine Pilgrim, my cofounder,
ma cofondatrice, m'a appelé.
for the tradie community.
pour la communauté ouvrière.
on est reconnaissants,
for the tradie community.
Formidable.
à aller quelque part ?
of being a tradie.
profondément enracinée.
we can get the tradies together
où réunir les ouvriers
and talk about mental health
et parler de santé mentale
I thought it was very clever.
J'ai trouvé ça très malin.
of a hardware store.
d'une quincaillerie.
and I'm a tradie myself,
the tradies with egg and bacon rolls,
des sandwichs œuf-bacon aux ouvriers
Espoir et soutien pour les ouvriers.
had no money to begin,
notre association, n'avait pas d'argent,
It starts in community.
Il faut commencer par la communauté.
we went around to the baker,
chez le boulanger,
and there was some chocolate,
this awareness-raising event.
de sensibilisation.
Because we haven't got any money."
On n'a pas beaucoup d'argent. »
we initiated the conversation with
avec qui on discutait
depression or thoughts of suicide
de dépressif, qui pensait au suicide
we've got some food.
Quoi d'autre ? »
d'assistance soient là.
and a lot of men in general,
where to go and get help.
où demander de l'aide.
at the HALT events,
aux événements d'HALT :
about my mental health
un docteur à propos de ma santé mentale
potentially saved my life.
say to me in the first year,
la première année :
still have those bags in their Ute
ont toujours ces sacs dans leur pick-up
about a whole of community approach,
d'approche communautaire,
in Castlemaine at Tonks Brothers,
à Castlemaine chez les frère Tonks
gone through mental health.
de problèmes mentaux.
it's not only tradies
ne sont pas les seuls
or anxiety or depression or suicide.
être angoissés, dépressifs ou suicidaires.
les centres de formation pour adultes,
in the farming industry,
pour les compagnes des ouvriers,
would not go home to their partners
rentrer chez eux
we talked about mental health,
this, this and this now."
on va faire ça, ça, et ça. »
to these young, vulnerable men and women.
ces jeunes gens vulnérables.
is really high for older men.
chez les plus vieux.
depot workers and tradies.
les fonctionnaires municipaux.
with very little funding,
avec très peu de fonds,
HALT event at a hardware store,
même dans une quincaillerie,
about his suicide attempt.
de sa tentative de suicide.
they've worked through it,
ils ont réglé leurs problèmes,
they could share their vulnerabilities.
pouvaient parler de leur vulnérabilité.
talk about their suicide attempt,
de leur tentative de suicide,
for them to talk,
to start talking.
pour qu'ils s'expriment.
to me and tell me their story,
et me raconter leur histoire,
to talk with other men."
pour parler avec d'autres. »
that I've had depression, but I have,
j'ai fait une dépression,
wants to come and speak to me,
and cathartic to do that.
from local and national support services.
d'assistance locaux et nationaux
or someone at one of these events,
lors de ces manifestations :
of suicide prevention.
la prévention du suicide.
which most of our brekkies are,
comme nos petits déj',
It's a whole-of-community approach.
C'est une approche communautaire.
sporting clubs, community clubs.
les clubs sociaux.
just to give you an idea.
qui donnent à réfléchir.
d'accidents de la route.
in opening up the conversations.
pour engager une discussion.
to open up conversations.
ont du mal à s'ouvrir.
conversations, I tell the guys,
« Si vous allez engager la discussion,
to open up and have a conversation,
on se sent à l'aise pour parler,
it's going for a walk,
ou pendant une promenade,
to have the conversation.
vous vous sentez à l'aise pour parler. »
to have that conversation
« Ça va ? »
avoir cette conversation.
out there is a good listener.
ma capacité à écouter,
to listen and not judge.
est une forme d'art.
to talk to you about mental illness
vous parler de maladie mentale,
and thoughts of suicide,
de pensées suicidaires,
that we're going to hold that in tight
qu'on écoute ce qu'ils ont à dire
We need to listen.
associated with mental health.
la stigmatisation des problèmes mentaux.
to have mental health days.
un jour de la santé mentale.
it's mental health days.
We can add to that change.
On peut y contribuer.
d'un dur labeur.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jeremy Forbes - Life preserverThrough his charity HALT, Jeremy Forbes aims to break through the stigma attached to mental health, raise awareness through education and empower men to open up conversations around mental health and suicide prevention.
Why you should listen
Jeremy Forbes is the co-founder of HALT (Hope Assistance Local Tradies), which aims to build the bridge between the tradespeople or "tradie" community and both local and national support services. HALT facilitates this through "Save Your Bacon" meetings in hardware stores, where tradies feel socially included and comfortable.
Forbes and his co-founder Catherine Pilgrim founded HALT in 2013 after the suicide of a local tradesman in the Castlemaine, Australia area. HALT has now held over 200 events across Australia, reaching over 10,000 tradies, apprentices and community members. HALT has now expanded and is reaching out to sporting clubs, farming communities, building and construction apprentices, miners, corporate organizations and private businesses with a powerful message of suicide prevention.
Forbes travels across Australia and the world to tell his story and encourage and empower men to open up and have the tough conversations, as well as giving them the awareness of where to go to access help or help a mate if they need help. He was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship through the Westpac Bicentennial foundation in 2016 and traveled to London and Oxford to talk about HALT and discover what the Uk were doing in the suicide prevention field. HALT was awarded a state award by Worksafe Victoria for its innovative approach to mental health and suicide prevention.
Jeremy Forbes | Speaker | TED.com