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From The Times
October 17, 2005

Macho men get help with their emotions

A £17,000-a-year appointment aims to bring new understanding to a region with a rising death toll

By David Lister, Scotland Correspondent

The arts development agency for the Highlands and Islands is poised to announce the £17,000-a-year post despite warnings that in an area with Britain’s highest suicide rate the move may fuel the problem by glamourising the idea of taking one’s life.

More than 50 people in the region killed themselves last year, while up to seven — men and women — attempt to commit suicide every day. One expert said recently that the suicide rate among young men was threatening to reach “epidemic” proportions.

Hi-Arts, which promotes art in the Highlands, was accused last night of being insensitive and tasteless after pushing ahead with plans to appoint a poet to “address the issue of suicide in the Highlands and Islands”.

It seeks to appoint a writer to produce “suicide-themed” poems, to be read at special workshops and schools, and to liaise with families of suicide victims and medical experts. The successful candidate, to be funded by the Scottish Arts Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, is expected to be announced this month.

Peter Urpeth, the writing development co-ordinator at HI-Arts, said yesterday that a poet could help people to cope with depression by “vocalising” their feelings.

He said: “The communities of the Highlands and Islands are faced with many difficult challenges, and amongst the most challenging is the suicide rate of young men, which remains very much above the national average. I think writing and the arts should be close to the heart of our understanding of these issues.

“The poet who will work with us on this project will be an exceptional writer who can bring insight and, I hope, new understanding to this issue.”

Recent suicides in the Highlands included four friends from a football team, none of whom left a note or appeared to have any reason to take their lives. All four hanged themselves. The last of the circle, Martin Morrison, 19, was found hanging from a pier in Cromarty in April.

Joyce MacRae, whose husband, Stephen, committed suicide 18 months ago, is the secretary of the newly formed Suicide Awareness Group in Inverness. She said that the main problem in the Highlands was the “macho attitude” of men.

“Scottish Highland men aren’t very good at talking to other men about things. They keep themselves to themselves. It’s a macho thing.”

Although Ms MacRae welcomed any attempt to address the growing problem of suicide in the Highlands, she suggested that poetry might not be the answer. “I’m a bit sceptical, to be honest,” she said. “Obviously you can’t put it down because we don’t know what it is going to be like, but I can’t help feeling that it’s just jobs for the boys. They’d be better giving the money to a charity like us that deals directly with those affected.”

Mary Scanlon, a Conservative MSP, said: “I feel very uncomfortable with the whole thing. The idea of somebody writing about suicide is insensitive to the many families who are fighting hard to cope with their grief. It also romanticises suicide and makes it more of an option — the more suicide is talked about the more likely people are to consider it as a course of action.”

However, Rory O’Connor, the head of the suicidal-behaviour research unit at Stirling University, said anything that encouraged people to talk should be applauded. He said: “It’s progressive to try to get a poet to engage with young people and their emotional issues — that can only be a positive thing.”