Chooselife
The national strategy and action plan to prevent suicide in Scotland
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The national strategy and action plan to prevent suicide in Scotland
Scene one: a man stares out of a bus window.
Scene two: the same man wheels a trolley down a warehouse floor with rows of shelving on either side.
Scene three: the same man makes himself a hot drink in the lunch room. His colleagues are talking in the foreground, but the man is outside of the conversation. As the man walks out of the room, one of his colleagues glances up at him.
Scene four: the man stands outside the warehouse gates, drinking his cup of coffee. A truck roars by in the background.
Scene five: the man walks home after his day at work. The colleague who glanced up at him in the lunch room, along with another mate, whistles the man over and asks: ‘Want to go to the pub?’
Scene six: the man and his colleague are sitting at a pub table, each with a drink. In the background, a barman moves between customers.
Scene seven: the colleague asks the man: ‘Are you alright today?’
Scene eight: the man begins to choke. He gets to his feet. The colleague jumps up and grabs the man in the Heimlich manoeuvre: he stands behind the man with his arms grasped around the man’s waist. The man chokes, coughs, and spits up a black lump.
Scene nine: the black lump lies on the pub table. It spells out the word ‘suicidal’. The word begins to squirm and shrink. Voiceover begins: ‘Suicide: the best thing you can do is talk.’
Scene ten: words are superimposed on a blurred image of the man in conversation with his friend: ‘Call Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87’. Voiceover continues: ‘Speak to someone you trust or call Breathing Space.’