Shedding light on self-harm and suicide through HIIC
/What happened?
Meeting at Douglas Community Centre, the five women, aged from 17 to 65, came together to take part in the HIIC course. Using their experiences, the women delivered a group presentation on an issue close to their hearts: self-harm and suicide. The play, ‘She Died Waiting’, depicts the story of a young woman who self-harms.
This piece of drama centres on a 17-year-old daughter of a working lone parent. Her mum works two jobs to buy her daughter all the nice things she wants, meaning Sophie rarely sees her. After becoming depressed, Sophie begins to self-harm. Her mum, devastated to find out how Sophie is feeling, takes her to the doctors who prescribes anti-depressants and gives her information about support websites and helplines.
But none of this is enough, and when she can’t get through to the helpline Sophie takes the tablets one by one whilst sitting on the floor crying, holding the telephone listening to a recorded message which says,
“your call is important to us and will be answered shortly”. Sophie dies waiting.
How did HIIC spark community action?
The Douglas Group have gone on to perform the play at major conferences across Scotland and were invited to perform the play at the Scottish Parliament by Cabinet Minister for Health Shona Robinson.
HIIC helped to bring people the group together in a participatory and community-led way to explore sensitive and serious health issues that people experience across our communities.
The women involved had their confidence built, made friends and develop their skills to make a positive impact in their communities - and go on to further education.
A video of the group talking about their experiences