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Beder
Beder is a new charity raising awareness around mental health and suicide prevention through exciting, unique and inspiring events and initiatives. We intend to increase understanding and reduce fear around the topics of mental health and suicide in order to overcome the stigma surrounding these incredibly important, yet underestimated, issues. Our aim is to reach young, diverse and engaged audiences through a range of partnerships and provide educational, wellness and recreational activities designed to bring people together who share similar interests.
Beder has partnered with YoungMinds, a leading mental health charity, and Samaritans, an established and highly respected charity working across the UK and Ireland to reduce suicide rates. The aims of these partnerships are to harness the specialist knowledge of YoungMinds and Samaritans, as well as to promote and further both charities’ incredible work. Beder was founded in memory of Beder Mirjan by his older brother, Razzak Mirjan, in 2019. As a family, we took the collective decision to start a charity in his name because we understand that it is not possible to rewrite history and have him with us today, but we believe that there are positives that can be found from our darkest days.
How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?
Beder organises a range of events and initiatives, both in-person and digitally, across education, wellness and recreation that brings people together who share similar interests and through these similar interests, Beder has the chance to softly raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention with the aim of increasing understanding and reducing fear around the topics of mental health and suicide in order to overcome the fear and stigma surrounding the incredibly important, yet underestimated issues.
What are your current priorities?
Our current priority is to softly raise awareness around the topics of mental health and suicide prevention whilst supporting the work of our partners, YoungMinds and Samaritans, through promoting their existing efforts and resources.
What challenges are you currently facing?
We are facing a struggle against the fear and stigma that surrounds both mental health and suicide.
We want to help people to feel that they can talk about someone who has taken their own life, or know what to say when someone brings up their name in conversation. It is understandable, in view of the fear and stigma that surrounds suicide, that people feel awkward and afraid but as we continue to mention their name or talk about the good times that we shared, we also give others the strength to share what is on their mind and normalise the conversation around mental health and suicide.