PRoF AWARD FOR CARE ORGANISATION 2017: FLEMISH CENTRE OF EXPERTISE IN SUICIDE PREVENTION

Chantal Van Audenhoven, the first winner ever of a PRoF award, was glad to do the honours and hand the PRoF Care Organisation Award 2017 to the Flemish Centre of Expertise in Suicide Prevention (VLESP). VLESP started out in 1979 as a small organisation run by a few volunteers. Nowadays, VLESP is one of the driving forces behind the Flemish Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
 
Regrettably, suicide still ranks high as a cause of death in Flanders. The Flemish Government has partnered up with VLESP to tackle this serious health and social problem and to reduce the number of suicides by 20% in 2020 (compared to 2000). VLESP informs and advices, next to developing and implementing tools and methods on suicide prevention, postvention and mental health promotion.

Perhaps the most well-known initiative is the Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1813. Though this hotline is still run by volunteers, the organisation has grown impressively. Today VLESP has about 135 volunteers. They have all received intensive training and among them, they take about 14,000 calls per year. They not only help individual people but also gain considerable expertise and insights, which are in turn analysed and shared by VLESP with the health care sector in Flanders.
 
Kirsten Pauwels, general manager of VLESP, considers the PRoF Award as an incentive to “work even harder and to continue to give society the necessary knowledge and tools to help people who are having suicidal thoughts or feelings. After all, suicide prevention is the responsibility of all of us and we are here to help people and their environment to cope with it in an effective way.”