Daw injured

[Joffa Burns]

Daw has been injured, confirmed in media.
The rumor abound is he attempted suicide jumping from Bolte bridge.

Hopefully this is not true.
Best wishes to the lad.

I have no inside on this, just what a friend has suggested.

[Sainternist]

Unfortunately, I can't see how it wasn't an attempt at his own life. This time of year is notorious for that. Very sad news indeed. Thankfully, he has lived to see another day and he has the full support of his club.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-l ... f4336159bd

Jesus. That is a big drop.

[saintspremiers]

Maybe they need to stop saying words like he “fell” from the bridge. And use the word suicide.

The belief is you need to tread on eggshells to stop encouraging others to jump.

What now?

Do we need suicide prevention fences on the Bolte?

And then what?

They find another bridge, we build another fence and the cycle continues.

Have the fences on the Westgate, which is now almost impossible to jump from, significantly reduced the suicide rate or just shifted it to the Bolte or other bridges??

My point is - are they really addressing the root cause or just adopting expensive band aids??

Anyone have the stats??

[Gershwin]

There is also a rumour that he was running away from a booze bus.

[SaintPav]

We live in a sick society.

Some sympathy, please.

[Joffa Burns]

Around 25-28 years ago I worked in the West of Melbourne and crossed the Westgate every day.
That was early days of Crown Casino and back then there was a car parked on the bridge two or three times a week and often a recovery process down below.

I spoke with a senior policeman at the time who said the punters would drive straight from Crown to the bridge and jump and that it was rampant and multiple per week. It was never reported in the press.

From memory the fencing went up after the psychotic father threw the young girl over a few years back.

Best wishes for young Daw.

[SaintPav]

Maybe they need to stop saying words like he “fell” from the bridge. And use the word suicide.

The belief is you need to tread on eggshells to stop encouraging others to jump.

What now?

Do we need suicide prevention fences on the Bolte?

And then what?

They find another bridge, we build another fence and the cycle continues.

Have the fences on the Westgate, which is now almost impossible to jump from, significantly reduced the suicide rate or just shifted it to the Bolte or other bridges??

My point is - are they really addressing the root cause or just adopting expensive band aids??

Anyone have the stats??

Everything is about money for some people. That’s a major reason why society is sick.

Suicide isn’t generally reported in the media out of respect and privacy to the deceased and the families. Maintaining the deceased’s dignity is important to some people.

[st.byron]

6 Australian men every day

[saynta]

Sad news.

Suicide in Australia of young men is out of control.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

People need to remember AFL players are under all sorts of stress. That would probably include a Saints player or two who might be struggling with the same issue. Before we criticize a player, maybe think for a second that we might not know the full story.

On the surface, Daw looked happy and healthy but it was obviously very far from the case.

There are around 70k reported suicide attempts in Australia every year. Biggest killer of men between 16 and 45.

[WellardSaint]

Around 25-28 years ago I worked in the West of Melbourne and crossed the Westgate every day.
That was early days of Crown Casino and back then there was a car parked on the bridge two or three times a week and often a recovery process down below.

I spoke with a senior policeman at the time who said the punters would drive straight from Crown to the bridge and jump and that it was rampant and multiple per week. It was never reported in the press.

From memory the fencing went up after the psychotic father threw the young girl over a few years back.

Best wishes for young Daw.

This is incredibly sad news.
In all of your posts, you've always displayed honesty and integrity, never 'look at me' like some others,
so I fully respect your post here.

I believe the lack of press would be to avoid the copycat effect.
I remember the psycho, tragic because his young son was in the back seat crying at his father to go back and retrieve his sister. How traumatic

[shrodes]

Maybe they need to stop saying words like he “fell” from the bridge. And use the word suicide.

The belief is you need to tread on eggshells to stop encouraging others to jump.

There is a reason why it is reported on the way it is, with a link / phone number to Beyond Blue at the bottom of the article, and limited detail.

https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/201 ... -clusters/

The author, Dr. Madeline Gould, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, conducted the statistical analysis as part of a larger autopsy study, then compared suicides associated with a cluster, to suicides that were not part of a cluster, and media reporting.

Her conclusions: Stories about an individual with the word suicide in the headline, stories on the front page of a newspaper, photos of the dead person, detailed descriptions of the act of suicide and portrayals of the suicide victim as noble, angelic or heroic, are associated with more suicides in the same community. It’s not a causal relationship, but rather they are related.

[asiu]

its a sad songline this one

blessings to everyone involved with that
emotional nightmare

[saintsRrising]

Maybe they need to stop saying words like he “fell” from the bridge. And use the word suicide.

The belief is you need to tread on eggshells to stop encouraging others to jump.

There is a reason why it is reported on the way it is, with a link / phone number to Beyond Blue at the bottom of the article, and limited detail.

https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/201 ... -clusters/

The author, Dr. Madeline Gould, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, conducted the statistical analysis as part of a larger autopsy study, then compared suicides associated with a cluster, to suicides that were not part of a cluster, and media reporting.

Her conclusions: Stories about an individual with the word suicide in the headline, stories on the front page of a newspaper, photos of the dead person, detailed descriptions of the act of suicide and portrayals of the suicide victim as noble, angelic or heroic, are associated with more suicides in the same community. It’s not a causal relationship, but rather they are related.

As someone that has worked on the engineering side of things, including road safety, such studies are well known and most western countries media follow these practices in not reporting for the reasons stated above.

[Joffa Burns]

Around 25-28 years ago I worked in the West of Melbourne and crossed the Westgate every day.
That was early days of Crown Casino and back then there was a car parked on the bridge two or three times a week and often a recovery process down below.

I spoke with a senior policeman at the time who said the punters would drive straight from Crown to the bridge and jump and that it was rampant and multiple per week. It was never reported in the press.

From memory the fencing went up after the psychotic father threw the young girl over a few years back.

Best wishes for young Daw.

This is incredibly sad news.
In all of your posts, you've always displayed honesty and integrity, never 'look at me' like some others,
so I fully respect your post here.

I believe the lack of press would be to avoid the copycat effect.
I remember the psycho, tragic because his young son was in the back seat crying at his father to go back and retrieve his sister. How traumatic

Yes that was incredibly tragic, Darcy Freeman was the girl about 4 YO I think.
I remember ready the court transcripts which were published and the young boy was crying telling the father to go back as Darcy couldn't swim. Still brings tears to my eyes.

Also agree with the copycat effect and the lack of reporting.

Very sad to imagine where your mind must be to hurl yourself from a bridge.

[Toy Saint]

Around 25-28 years ago I worked in the West of Melbourne and crossed the Westgate every day.
That was early days of Crown Casino and back then there was a car parked on the bridge two or three times a week and often a recovery process down below.

I spoke with a senior policeman at the time who said the punters would drive straight from Crown to the bridge and jump and that it was rampant and multiple per week. It was never reported in the press.

From memory the fencing went up after the psychotic father threw the young girl over a few years back.

Best wishes for young Daw.

A police friend told me there were about 300 suicide's from the West Gate Bridge each year, the majority were Asian's who had lost borrowed money at the Casino. It's almost as many deaths as the annual road toll. An honorable government would recognize the true cost and devastation caused by the Casino and limit gambling.

[BringBackMadDog]

Maybe they need to stop saying words like he “fell” from the bridge. And use the word suicide.

The belief is you need to tread on eggshells to stop encouraging others to jump.

What now?

Do we need suicide prevention fences on the Bolte?

And then what?

They find another bridge, we build another fence and the cycle continues.

Have the fences on the Westgate, which is now almost impossible to jump from, significantly reduced the suicide rate or just shifted it to the Bolte or other bridges??

My point is - are they really addressing the root cause or just adopting expensive band aids??

Anyone have the stats??

They installed suicide prevention fences on the Bolte this year, I remember when they finished it I commented to my wife that the fences stopped way short of where they should've and still left plenty of room for someone to jump if they wanted to.

[Enrico_Misso]

Hope he can pickup the pieces and fulfill his potential.

One of the most athletic players in the comp.
When he wasn't getting a game at Norf a year or two ago I thought we should try to recruit him.
Probably the wrong time to say it but looks like a good move that we didn't!

Speaking of good moves, looks like Freo are on a winner!

[shanegrambeau]

Around 25-28 years ago I worked in the West of Melbourne and crossed the Westgate every day.
That was early days of Crown Casino and back then there was a car parked on the bridge two or three times a week and often a recovery process down below.

I spoke with a senior policeman at the time who said the punters would drive straight from Crown to the bridge and jump and that it was rampant and multiple per week. It was never reported in the press.

From memory the fencing went up after the psychotic father threw the young girl over a few years back.

Best wishes for young Daw.

I was teaching English to migrants at TAFE in the western suburbs in the mid 90s I can tell you that among the Vietnamese community at the time, Crown Casino was a disaster. Financial ruin and pain was widespread. Yet at the time it was all, clap, clap, three cheers for Crown and Jeff Kennett and “new” Melbourne. Even when Eddie McQuire carries on about ho w great Crown is today (Packer mates) it makes my stomach churn.

Anyway, someone mentioned that this time of year is high for suicides in Melbourne. I may be living under a rock nowadays, but what is the common wisdom about ten reason for this one?

[skeptic]

The fences on the Westgate were a really big deal and had a major impact around the city when they went up.

I worked in the ED of one of the city based hospitals where failed attempts were often directed... in the 3 years there, I can tell you that not a week went by where I didn’t do at least one assessment with someone that tried that. Am a little hazy with the stats but for a time 1-2 completed attempts occurred a week? And another 3-4 not completed.
That type of story became completely second nature to everyone there.

The thing with suicide attempts is that they usually occur in one of 2 pretences... Impulsive or planned

As has already been pointed out in this thread... if someone is really serious about getting it done, the fences don’t make a difference but it was a real game changer for the people in crisis in the early hours of the morning.

The WGB was kind of known as an easy access, no barrier way that was fairly reliable in terms of achieving for people the outcome they wanted. The fence in combination with an increased police presence stopped it from being something that could be done so quickly...
Hence for people thinking about suicide after hours... they needed to think of other methods, then access the means... all of that takes time and provides opportunity to rethink, calm down, sober up etc especially noting that the other most common methods are not typically as reliable...


With regards to reporting/discussing resulting in more suicides... it’s 100% true but it’s not about trying to prevent copy cat behaviour or anything like that. It’s about exposure.
A reasonable proportion of the population in Melbourne don’t typically really consider suicide as a viable/reasonable response to their troubles... even many of those that often feel suicidal regularly very rarely even try if they’ve not been exposed to it. The step between thinking and planning to actually doing is a HUGE one.

From my perspective, growing up I never knew anyone that committed suicide or even tried... when family and friends were highly stressed or fighting or losing things, that type of response wasn’t considered, on the cards or talked about. Now I was one moody teenager from btw the ages of 15-18 and a miserable one at times in that period but regardless suicide was never on the radar.

Compare that to someone who say lost a parent or friend to suicide at a young age... a very common story unfortunately. They grow up impacted by suicide, knowing about it, thinking about it, being impacted by it... they’re exposed first hand to the idea that at their lowest that’s something that a person around them has done in response to... whatever.
It’s why mental health professionals always ask about a family history... suicide isn’t genetic (obviously the depression is) but the exposure to it increases the chances of it becoming a reality

When I worked on various inpatient units over 10 years, I know of one successful suicide that occurred by a patient on the unit. WIthin 3 weeks that followed, 2 other patients that had been on the ward when it happened followed through themselves from home.

And the really horrible thing is that numbers wise, it’s only going worse... it’s the one area that mental health services haven’t made any progress in across the board... the % of people actually committing suicide has consistently gone up over the last 15 years or so... and the majority of those ppl have never even come into contact with services or so much as discussed depression with a GP.

It’s a really serious problem and one that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind when voting

[asiu]

imo

the dis-ease is lonliness
created by a belief in seperateness

social isolation and alienation the expression (of that belief) experienced.

i'd imagine the 'festive' season isnt all beer and skittles for those already alienated and or isolated
from social norms , connections , cultural traditions 'n celebrations

[Premium89]

imo

the dis-ease is lonliness
created by a belief in seperateness

social isolation and alienation the expression (of that belief) experienced.

i'd imagine the 'festive' season isnt all beer and skittles for those already alienated and or isolated
from social norms , connections , cultural traditions 'n celebrations

Nailed it - festive season can also be so so lonely for some.
I work in the media and had the chance to talk to a Melbourne radio traffic reporter about 10years ago.
They have (had) access to traffic cameras all across Melbourne, including the bridge. He reckoned whenever there was an interest rate rise, the number of jumpers went up, and went into similar detail as has been posted above as to why they would report it as simply an “incident” on the Westgate, even if they’d seen it happen.

Also, lifeline is 13 11 14 if there’s anyone reading who needs it. They really are amazing.

[Yorkeys]

Majak Daw mental health round to raise awareness, support the bloke financially and try to reduce the stigma typically related to suicide? I hope some of our guys are able to visit him in hospital and talk frankly with him about the stresses and risk factors all these young men face so he knows he is no Robinson Crusoe and that the depression even though horrible doesn't last forever and the rest of your life it worth being there fo . I am sure North and the AFL will provide every support and in time he could possibly become a lived experience hero to others. He has so much going for him. Buddy and Tom Boyd will call him and help him through.

[The Fireman]

I would like to suggest a "StKilda supporters round "