Prince William opens new life-saving centre in West Midlands to prevent men dying by suicide in the region

Prince William opened James’ Place Birmingham today which offers free, life-saving and quick to access therapy to suicidal men in the West Midlands.

James’ Place Birmingham is the charity’s fourth centre and is located just outside the city centre near Five Ways in the Edgbaston area.

The three other centres are in Liverpool, London and Newcastle.

A team of trained therapists will be able to see around 450-500 men in suicidal crisis at the centre in Birmingham per year.

James’ Place was started in memory of a young man called James who lost his life to suicide in 2006.

The charity offers a warm, welcoming and non-clinical space, where professional therapists get quickly to the heart of a man’s suicidal crisis and help him to solve it.

The Birmingham centre has been open to referrals from Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust since April but is now open to referrals from any suicidal men in the region.

Men can self-refer or be referred to the centre by a professional including those working in health and community services, or by a friend or family member.

The centre has no waiting list, and will typically see men for an initial assessment within two working days.

Following assessment men receive six to eight face-to-face sessions of talking therapy with a trained professional therapist in a safe, friendly, non-clinical environment.

James’ Place works alongside the NHS and other local support services, taking on clinical responsibility for the men they treat.

Ellen O’Donoghue, Chief Executive of James’ Place said: “We are so grateful to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales for opening our new James’ Place centre.

“The Prince has opened all four of our centres, which is testament to how deeply he cares about suicide prevention. We know that the work we do saves lives, and we’re here to help men in the West Midlands out of their crisis and find hope for the future.”

Ciaran Brady, Head of Centre at James’ Place Birmingham said: “We know that there are suicidal men all over the West Midlands who need help but can’t always find it, so we’re really pleased to be taking action to prevent suicide by offering free, life-saving therapy at our fantastic new centre in Birmingham.

“We would urge any men in the West Midlands who have intense, repetitive and distressing suicidal thoughts, and plans to act on these thoughts, to reach out to us as soon as possible via our website jamesplace.org.uk. You can also contact us if you are worried about someone else.”

The centre is open Monday-Friday 9.30-5.30 by appointment only. To access support from James’ Place, make a referral or find out more visit www.jamesplace.org.uk.