Friends for Life (Association)

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Friends for life e. V. is a non-profit association for suicide prevention and education about depression and suicide among adolescents and young people.

Working method

The association for suicide prevention was founded in 2001 by Gerald Schömbs, Diana Doko, Vanessa Petruo and Sven Peitzner in Berlin . The founders of the association lost loved ones themselves through suicide. The organization is supported by numerous celebrities and cooperates with other organizations and associations such as Irrsinnig Menschlich, Neuhland or the Berlin Alliance against Depression . Friends for life is a member of the German Society for Suicide Prevention .

The association carries out campaigns, press work and awareness-raising work on the subject of suicide. This is about the targeted communication of information via warning signals, offers of help and therapy options. The information portal frnd.de provides facts and clarifies errors on the subject of suicide. The YouTube channel frnd.tv provides short video clips with information on mental health , mental illness and resilience . The association provides information material for schools and advice centers and organizes poster campaigns, events and workshops.

For the 2006 WHO World Suicide Prevention Day, the association initiated the campaign “Prominent 'Friends for Life' talk about suicide”. In 2013, the association called for more information about suicide with an online petition entitled “Talk about it”. For the WHO World Suicide Prevention Day 2014, the association initiated the “600 lives” campaign in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin together with ten key actors from the fields of suicide prevention and mental health.

Friends for Life is financed by private donations and grants. The work is supported by startsocial , Barmer GEK , Aktion Mensch and other well-known sponsors. In 2012, the non-profit organization Phineo awarded the association the Wirkt! Donation seal as one of 14 effective projects in the field of depression.

background

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people under the age of 25. Overall, more people die each year in Germany as a result of their own decisions than as a result of traffic accidents, drug abuse and HIV / AIDS combined. With a total of around 10,000 suicides a year, in Germany one person dies every 53 minutes by suicide.

The decision to commit suicide is often based on depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression will become the second most common disease worldwide by 2020. There is also a shift towards mental illness in children and adolescents. Puberty is characterized by extreme, hormone-related mood swings and physical changes. In this phase, young people are therefore particularly prone to psychological crises.

Prominent supporters

See also

literature

  • Gerald Schömbs: Reaching new target groups with new media , in: Elmar Etzersdorfer: New media and suicidal tendencies: Dangers and intervention options , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-46175-5 , pp. 233–246

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carina Kontio: European Depression Day: “Keeping silent and doing nothing prevents suicides” , interview with Diana Doko, Handelsblatt , October 1, 2016
  2. ↑ Antje Wewer: Because they knew what they were doing , Die Welt , May 11, 2003
  3. ↑ Björn Trautwein: Party against the shadows on the soul , BZ , February 5, 2013
  4. ↑ Talking helps against thoughts of suicide ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Stern , September 10, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stern.de
  5. ↑ Andrea Barthélémy: World Suicide Prevention Day: Talking helps more than many think , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , May 11, 2006
  6. ^ World Suicide Prevention Day 2006: Friends for Life ( Memento of March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), press release
  7. ↑ Charlotte Haunhorst: Shall we talk about suicide? , Now magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 27, 2013
  8. ↑ Björn Trautwein: Advice against suicide: e-mails can also save lives , BZ , August 27, 2014
  9. ↑ Friends for Life TV , phineo.org
  10. ^ Federal health reporting, Fachserie 12, Reihe 4 , Federal Statistical Office , 2012
  11. ↑ Prevention field: Suicide ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , State Institute for School and Media Berlin-Brandenburg  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bildungsserver.berlin-brandenburg.de