By Vickie Skorji | Lifeline Services Director
Dear friend
On September 10th, TELL launched our month-long STEP UP for mental health challenge, finishing on October 10th World Mental Health Day. TELL is thrilled to announce the event saw a record turnout of 926 participants who STEPPED UP for mental health, doubling our numbers in 2020!
This year’s World Suicide Prevention Day theme is “creating hope through action,” something we have all witnessed from all the athletes who trained hard despite the challenges of COVID-19 and competed in the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. We have seen the courage Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles demonstrated when they spoke out about their mental health struggles and the need for self-care. They remind us that every day it is vital to take care of our mental health, stay connected and reach out to those struggling.
We started our month-long STEP UP Challenge, marking World Suicide Prevention Day walking from our Tokyo Office at 18:30 to Yoyogi Koen. Then, at 8 pm, Vickie Skorji (Lifeline Services Director) and Selena Hoy (Outreach Coordinator), together with other community members, light candles in remembrance of Alice Hodgkinson and loved ones who have lost their lives to suicide.
You walked up mountains, along beaches, rivers, over bridges, through cities and parks, as individuals and groups, coming together to help break down the barriers surrounding mental health and, for many, remembering friends, colleagues, relatives, children, and partners who lost their battle with mental illness. We have been blown away by the support of people all over the country, from Okinawa to Tohoku and even outside of Japan. Despite still being under the influence of COVID, nearly twice as many people STEPPED UP as last year. A total of 71 Community teams, 63 school teams, 45 Corporate teams, and 180 solo entrants took up the challenge and totaled an incredible and inspiring 12,749,992 steps for mental health and suicide prevention across Japan.
In addition to taking the steps and raising vital funds for the Lifeline, the STEP UP challenge also included an awareness category. Breaking down the stigma and reducing the barriers preventing people from reaching out and accessing support is crucial to saving lives. TELL has been so impressed with the creative ways everyone developed across the month to have meaningful discussions about mental health and raise awareness.
The TELL team continues working hard every day to ensure the Lifeline is up and running. So far this year, the Lifeline volunteers have maintained 100% shift coverage every day. And for the first time in our history, chat coverage every day, enabling us to reach more young people than ever before. Additionally, for the last four months, we have provided an extra 20 shifts each month, and 25 shifts with two crisis support workers as our volunteer numbers increase, and we strive to connect with as many users as possible.
Still, around 800 chats and phone calls go unanswered every month, and the youth suicide rate remains high. Your donations play a vital role in funding the Lifeline Support worker training and, in turn, increasing our volunteer numbers and our hours of support. Thank you, everyone, for your support of our Lifeline; as we strive for 24/7 coverage, we will continue to give hope and connections to our users, one call or chat at a time.
Vickie Skorji
Lifeline Services Director
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By Vickie Skorji | Lifeline Services Director
By Kathryn Sheppard | Corporate Development Manager
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