How sports can prevent suicide

Swedish long jumper Mattias Sunneborn, who was an Olympic finalist in 1996, will be holding a lecture on sports as a way of preventing suicide.

The Faroese Board of Public Health and the Faroese Athletics Association are organising the event on 3 April at 7.30pm, according to a newsletter published on in.fo.

Mattias Sunneborn will also be talking about how sports helped him in his own personal life. His father committed suicide when Mattias was 15 years old. This left the teenager with deep mental wounds. He struggled to accept that his father had committed such a horrible act.

Refused for years

For many years he refused to tell people the real reason behind his father’s death. He did not want to speak to people about this, and he often cried himself to sleep.

Today, Mattias has learned about the value of talking about his grief. He currently works for the Swedish non-profit organisation Suicide Zero, which aims to radically reduce the number of suicides and attempted suicides, and to help victims.

We in the Faroes can learn a lot from Suicide Zero’s work. For instance, the organisation encourages schools, elderly care workers and the police to look out for signs of suicide. It also works towards improving supervision of people who have suffered major trauma.

In the Faroes, 16 people committed suicide in the period 2010-2015.

The lecture will take place in the main hall of Starvsmannafelagið, 14 J. H. Schrøtersgøta, Tórshavn, on 3 April at 19.30pm. Entry is free.