Ripples of Despair -  Shining a light on the impact of lives lost to alcohol, drugs, and suicide (2024)

This report has tackled difficult topics, revealing how deeply lives in Gateshead are affected by losses to alcohol, drugs and suicide. Each loss leaves an absence that is profoundly felt. These heartbreaking stories remind us of the urgency to act and inspire a collective resolve for change.

Across Gateshead, inspiring work is already underway. Community support groups and innovative prevention programmes are bringing people together with a shared commitment to ensuring no one faces these challenges alone:

We have groups with like-minded people that share experience, strength, and hope. And by doing that, we're giving back to newcomers who are coming in the rooms for the first time, realising that they're not alone. That is a massive thing. We're not alone. It really, really, really helps.

This determination to connect and support others highlights the power of community:

The ways we can help to change experiences for other people is don't be afraid to talk to somebody, anybody. We can have open conversations with each other.

The efforts taking place in Gateshead give us every reason to hope, as communities create empowering, safe and inclusive spaces. These efforts are not just transforming lives - they're saving them. Yet, we still have work to do. To make a lasting difference, we must continue to challenge stigma, invest in prevention, and ensure help is available to everyone who needs it, when they need it. Lived experience is at the heart of this change, as we celebrate the courage and resilience of those who share their stories:

I'm still here. That's the best I can say some days. But I'm here because someone showed me I wasn't invisible. That's all it took - a moment of care to remind me I mattered.

Gateshead's strength lies in its people, in their compassion, their determination and their willingness to shape a future defined by hope and recovery. Together, we can ensure Gateshead is a place where everyone thrives.

If you are struggling, please know:

You are not alone.
You are seen.
And there is always hope.