Campaign Against Living Miserably

Last updated

Campaign Against Living Miserably
AbbreviationCALM
Formation2006
Purpose Suicide prevention
Headquarters London
Region served
UK
Chair of Trustees
James Scroggs
CEO
Simon Gunning
Budget
£6.4 million income (for year to March 2022)
Staff
66
Website www.thecalmzone.net

Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, is a registered charity based in England. [1]

Contents

CALM runs a free, confidential and anonymous helpline as well as a web chat service, offering help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in crisis. [2]

History

Pilot and relaunch

CALM was initially a Department of Health pilot project launched in late 1997 in Manchester with the help of Tony Wilson, and then rolled out to Merseyside in 2000. [3] It was a helpline targeted specifically at young men who were unlikely to contact mainstream services and who were at greater risk of suicide. [4] Jane Powell was commissioned to launch the project and ran it until 2000. When funding for the pilot project ceased in 2004/5, Powell relaunched the pilot as a registered charity in 2006, [5] working with some of the pilot's original commissioners and with Wilson as a founding trustee.

In 2015, rapper and singer-songwriter Professor Green was named as CALM's patron, [6] and the campaign's trustees board includes health professionals and leading figures from the worlds of music, advertising, and management, as well as relatives of men who have taken their own lives. Robin Millar and David Baddiel are former patrons.

The campaign has brought in significant pro bono advertising support from agencies such as Ogilvy Advertising, [7] Tullo Marshall Warren, [8] MTV, and Metro, and most recently[ when? ] Topman and BMB. This has brought CALM a significant number of advertisements on billboards, on TV, on the London Underground and on radio. [9]

In November 2018, CALM partnered with UKTV channel Dave to create a campaign called "Be The Mate You'd Want". This started with a 3-minute ad break, voiced by comedian James Acaster, encouraging the viewer to text, chat or tweet someone who needs support. It occurred again in July 2019, this time with a "comedy festival in an ad break" which featured comedians Ahir Shah, Alex Horne, Dane Baptiste, Darren Harriott, David Mumeni, Ed Gamble, Elf Lyons, Jamali Maddix, Jessie Cave, Lou Sanders, Maisie Adam, Natasia Demetriou, Phil Wang, Pierre Novelli, Sindhu Vee, Stevie Martin and Zoe Lyons, with Jessica Knappett providing intro and outro voiceover.

Project84

In 2018, the charity commissioned the artists Mark Jenkins and Sandra Fernandez to create Project84 , an art installation in London. [10] [11] [12] The work was sponsored by Harry's and designed to raise awareness of adult male suicide. [10]

Conversations Against Living Miserably

In May 2019, CALM announced a partnership with Dave for a podcast called Conversations Against Living Miserably hosted by Lauren Pattison and Aaron Gillies talking to comedians about their mental health. [13]

After Life benches

In 2022, in collaboration with Netflix, a mental health initiative involved installing park benches around the UK, inspired by scenes from the TV series After Life , wherein Tony, played by Ricky Gervais, and Ann, played by Penelope Wilton held many conversations about mental health. [14] [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beyond Blue</span> Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation

Beyond Blue is an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation. They provide support programs to address issues related to depression, suicide, anxiety disorders and other related mental illnesses.

Celestial Movies (天映频道) is an Asian 24-hour Chinese movie channel, which screens films from and shows interviews with movie stars and directors, entertainment news and film award ceremonies. The channel is available in 11 territories across Asia Pacific, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other countries in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike King (advocate)</span> New Zealand mental health advocate, television personality, and former comedian

Michael King is a New Zealand mental health advocate, television personality, and former comedian.

Eugene C. Figg was an American structural engineer who made numerous contributions to the field of structural engineering, especially in the design of the cable-stayed bridge and the use of the segmental concrete construction method.

Primosphere Limited Partnership was one of four companies bidding for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, or SDARS, licenses in the United States. The service would have been an advertisement-supported digital audio service with an emphasis on serving music genres that had lost exposure in the terrestrial radio market during that period, such as classic jazz, "beautiful music," "pop standards," and swing music. Two dedicated public radio talk channels were also proposed along with traditional talk radio channels.

988 is a telephone number used in some North American (NANP) countries for a suicide prevention helpline. In the United States, it is known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In Canada, it is known as the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracker (business software)</span>

Tracker is a family of business software products developed by Automation Centre. Each product includes applications for various business processes. While these products share a similar process framework, they differ in platform deployment.

Paul Terence Conneally is a poet, artist and musician based in Loughborough, UK.

Ellis Watson has held senior positions at companies such as Menzies, FirstGroup, Syco and DC Thomson.

The 1950 Princeton Tigers football team represented Princeton University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intercollegiate competition during the 1950 season. The Tigers were led by sixth-year head coach Charlie Caldwell, a future College Football Hall of Fame inductee, who utilized an "unbalanced" version of the single-wing formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide in the United Kingdom</span> Statistics and causes of suicide in the UK (England and Wales figures only)

Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 5,691 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 18 suicides per day. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieminister</span>

Pieminister is a pie making company based in Bristol, South West England. Pieminister pies can be found in their restaurants, supermarkets and online, as well as various pubs and deli shops across the UK. As of 2022, Pieminister has restaurants and cafes in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Stoke on Trent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim Youth Helpline</span> Helpline for Muslim youth in the UK

Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) is a national helpline, registered as a charity, providing free and confidential faith and culturally sensitive support services targeted at vulnerable young people in the United Kingdom. Although its target audiences are young Muslims, it does not propagate any religious or political beliefs, seeking only to provide relief to and improve the social condition of vulnerable young people.

Mental health in the Republic of Ireland is the subject of state and community sector intervention in Ireland. The Irish state devolves responsibility for mental health to the Department of Health. Community groups and charities also provide support in the prevention and management of mental illness as well as suicide prevention.

<i>Ghost Alive</i> (album) 2018 studio album by The Boxer Rebellion

Ghost Alive is the sixth studio album by The Boxer Rebellion, released on 23 March 2018. Four singles were released before the album: "What the Fuck", "Goodnight", "Love Yourself" and "Here I Am". "Love Yourself" was released in conjunction with CALM to promote wellbeing in mental health.

<i>Project84</i> Temporary art installation in London, England

Project84 was an art installation comprising life-size statues of 84 men on top of the ITV buildings at Southbank in London, England. It aimed to highlight the fact that, in the United Kingdom, an average 84 men die by suicide each week.

<i>After Life</i> (TV series) 2019–2022 British streaming TV series

After Life is a British black comedy-drama television series created, written, executive produced, and directed by Ricky Gervais, who plays lead character Tony Johnson. It premiered on 8 March 2019 on Netflix. The second series premiered on 24 April 2020. The third and final series premiered on 14 January 2022.

Peter Devlin is an English former professional snooker player, rapper, presenter and MC from Leyton in East London.

Suicide prevention and intervention efforts in India are in the nascent stage. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide in India is a serious public health issue but it can be prevented with timely interventions that are based on evidence. Suicide prevention is also one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3.4.2) wherein they have asked member countries to work towards reduce global suicide rates by one third by 2030. Notable steps taken by the Government of India include the decriminalization of suicide in the Mental HealthCare Act of 2017 and launching of India's first mental health toll free helpline KIRAN. Many experts have emphasised the urgent need for a national strategy for suicide prevention to be implemented that is multi-sectoral in nature.

References

  1. ↑ "Campaign Against Living Miserably, registered charity no. 1110621". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. ↑ CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably; http://patient.info/support/CALM-Campaign-Against-Living-Miserably.htm Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Accessed on 3 March 2009 at 14:02
  3. ↑ NHS Health Promotion/Campaign Against Living Miserably; Howes, Simon; "Health Promotion/CALM". Archived from the original on 5 October 2002. Retrieved 5 October 2002.; Accessed on 17 March 2009 at 15:12
  4. ↑ national service frameworks: Mental Health Modern Standards and Service Models; 1999; p. 31; http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4009598; Accessed on 3 March 2009 at 12:45
  5. ↑ Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM); http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/menshealth/support_groups/006287.htm Archived 9 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine ; Accessed on 3 March 2009 at 14:05
  6. ↑ "Professor Green campaigns against living miserably". Dial2Donate. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Ogilvy appeals for CALM; Creative Review; 1 May 2002; http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25342629_ITM; Accessed on 3 March 2009 at 14:44
  8. ↑ Charity Calm unveils hard-hitting assault; Precision Marketing; 15 December 2006; http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-29043498_ITM; Accessed on 3 March 2009 at 14:47
  9. ↑ "CALM publish book looking back at 10 years of campaigning – Liverpool-Live". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  10. 1 2 Barr, Sabrina (26 March 2018). "Harrowing sculptures appear on top of ITV buildings to raise awareness around male suicide". The Independent . London. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Marris, Sharon (27 March 2018). "Project 84: Charity CALM calls for action on male suicide". Sky News . Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Eighty four harrowing suicide statues appear on roof of ITV studio". Evening Standard . London. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Dozens of comedians join a new CALM podcast with Dave". thecalmzone.net. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  14. ↑ "After Life on Netflix: Locations of donated 'Hope is Everything' benches around the UK". In Your Area. 23 January 2022.
  15. ↑ Phipps, Amy (20 January 2022). "After Life benches inspired by Ricky Gervais show installed". BBC.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.