Maytree's Previous News... (Nov 2004)

Maytree's aim is to help people who are suicidal. We offer time & space; the time to talk & be befriended confidentially, Without judgement; space - somewhere to reflect in a supportive, non-medical environment to regain strength and the wish to live. 

From the Director, Paddy Bazeley: 

When Maytree opened two years ago, we received many messages of congratulations on achieving our ambition to provide a sanctuary for people at risk of killing themselves. People said how brave we were to embark on such a venture. The very notion of having suicidal people in a non-medical setting brought raised eyebrows and I imagine there were plenty of inner voices saying "little do they know what they've taken on" and "it's all very well starting something but what about keeping it going?".

Two years on we are in no doubt that setting up Maytree was a good idea. Nonetheless, we are conscious that setting up Maytree was the easy bit and the need to maintain quality of care, as well as awareness of the service we offer and continuity of funding, are with us for life.

Maytree has had a relatively smooth passage so far. We knew in the beginning that we needed to take our time to make sure that we could provide the safe and supportive environment essential for befriending actively suicidal people. The build-up of numbers of guests has accordingly been steady showing a 50% annual increase in both potential guest enquiries and actual guests.

At the same time we have continued to recruit new volunteers, whilst existing volunteers (several of whom have been with Maytree from the start) have gained knowledge and experience, so that we now have the resources to take on a larger number of guests. 

Throughout the year we have held regular ongoing training meetings for volunteers; sometimes with an outside speaker from a relevant agency other times as support/discussion groups.

Outreach in its various forms continues apace. We have had a number of Open Days for Potential Referrers as well as two Referrer Forums: giving those who are making referrals an opportunity to discuss ways of making referrals and offer feedback. We have also been invited to talk about Maytree and to help with Suicide Awareness programmes to a number of mental health groups and organisations. We were delighted when Councillor John Bryant and Graham Magee from the Camden Suicide Prevention Scrutiny Panel visited Maytree and reported so positively on our work.

As yet, there has been no external evaluation of Maytree but such feedback as we have received -in the form of letters and gifts from guests - has been almost universally positive and we are encouraged by the number of referrals both from the same sources and also from 'word of mouth', indicating a high level of satisfaction.

The cardinal principle of maintaining guest confidentiality does also inhibit media coverage of Maytree and this makes the need to publicise our services and attract more ! funding that much more challenging. The task of meeting that challenge is ongoing.

We at Maytree have always believed that the service we offer only makes sense if seen as one element in a wider, collaborative network of services, and we naturally welcome the report. We stand ready to support and help with initiatives to implement this report.