Paul Calvert spoke with David Koren, the Executive Director from ERAN.

David Koren

ERAN is Israel's only emotional first aid service, providing a confidential 24-hour hotline, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The various sector specific hotlines offer unconditional emotional support to those who are alone, depressed or in crisis. Paul Calvert spoke with David Koren, the Executive Director from ERAN, about suicide in Israel and the difference the volunteers at ERAN make to 160,000 people a year.

Paul: What is ERAN?

David: ERAN is the national hotline in Israel for suicide prevention, but it's a helpline for everything. There is no issue that we are not dealing with on the phone and over the internet; within the family, outside the family, within the person himself, work situations, education, kids, marriage, relationships, death, sexual abuse and sexual orientation, so pretty much everything. We work with 1,100 volunteers, from 12 different places in Israel. We have around 100 volunteers who are operating 24 hours a day. This is what we have been doing for 43 years.

Paul: When someone calls you, are they always in a desperate situation to call you in the first place?

David: Sometimes they are in a very desperate situation, but not all the time. There are people who call us when they are having a bad day, who want to consult with us on an issue in the family or whatever. It's a place where people can talk about everything. There are a lot of people who are calling in deep distress though, with depression and people who are suffering from mental problems, so it's a mix.

Paul: How many threatened suicides do you deal with a year?

David: Within a year we have something like 4,000 calls, but we have something like 700 to 800 suicide calls in a year, which is a little bit more than two a day, where the person calls either before a suicide attempt, or during a suicide attempt, or after he took all the pills. That is quite a lot of calls.

Paul: How many people die of suicide in Israel?

David: It's a little bit over or around 500 people a year and it's pretty much steady. Israel is trying to reduce this number and the good news is that the army is starting to reduce the number of soldiers who commit suicide over the last few years. Israel as a State is trying to put it on the agenda, to go down from the 500 people who commit suicide a year.

Paul: Do those figures include the Palestinian Authority?

David: No, it doesn't include the Palestinian Authority. It does include the Israelis who lives in the Territories, but it doesn't include the Palestinian Authority.

Paul: Who is the most at risk?

David: That is a good question. There are two groups, one group is not the teenager, but young people under the age of 30. Their way of thinking is quite often black and white. If I didn't do well in my maths exam, it's the end of the world; if the girlfriend left the teenager, it's the end of the world. On the other end of the scale is the elderly. There are elderly who commit suicide because of loneliness, or if someone is very sick. There are more girls that are having suicide attempts, but more boys are succeeding. Sometimes a suicide attempt is a way of asking for help, but not all the time.

Paul: Does poverty make a difference?