Caroline Flack-Why ‘ASK TWICE’ is so powerful
Yet another celebrity succumbs to hopelessness and takes their own life, such an immense tragedy and waste of a beautiful person. Caroline Flack was a high profile celebrity so we all know about her tragic suicide and the condolences roll in, but what pushed her to take such drastic action?
The answer is that we’ll probably never know what actually pushed her over the edge but she must have been feeling very lonely and ostracised by society in general. And who on earth within the CPS made the final decision that she should go to court when Lewis Burton himself didn’t want the case to be pursued?
Sources close to her say that they knew she was down but thought she was safe, why would they assume that? Maybe it’s because the majority of people don’t actually realise that people who have suicidal thoughts very rarely show any signs, there is actually no way of knowing who may be at risk of taking the ultimate action by removing themselves from life itself.
Last year in conjunction with Time to Change, Ogilvy created an advertising campaign called ‘Ask Twice’, a brilliant initiative to encourage all of us to take more notice of each other and ask a second time if we feel someone isn’t as good as they say.
It’s a simple initiative, it would seem almost too simple, but the power behind actually connecting with people around you and just taking a few minutes out to offer them the chance to talk can be the difference between life and death.
Caroline Flack is just one of the average 16 people who take their own lives every day, it’s the leading cause of death in 10-49 year-olds… that’s scary. Money, looks, fame, an adoring public don’t preclude you from the devastation that mental health issues can cause, no-one is immune.
So, how do we prevent people from taking their own lives? ‘Ask Twice’ is an excellent starting point and the sooner we all begin to take more notice of the people around us the better. Caroline didn’t have to die, she could have had more support, the people around her could have taken better care of her when they all knew how vulnerable she was. The same is true of every person who takes their own life, someone could have been more aware and maybe, just maybe, asking twice might have made all the difference.
I applaud Ogilvy and Time to Change for coming up with a campaign that is so powerful, now we need people to implement it.
I SAY IT AGAIN, ‘ASK TWICE‘, YOU MIGHT SAVE A LIFE
Film: ‘Kingdom of Us’ – Netflix
Book: ‘Unravelled’ – Amazon
TED Talk: ‘Why my autistic children don’t need a cure’
