This year’s RCSI’s ‘Please Talk Candle-lit Event’ was appropriately held in the newly renovated Serenity Prayer Room where staff and students gathered to bring their light to shine on those who have lost their lives and been bereaved through suicide.

Now in its fourth year of campaigning,  ‘Please Talk’ continues its message that ‘talking is a sign of strength’,  especially when experiencing challenges. RCSI students and Chaplaincy Team gathered on Wednesday 2^nd November once again to highlight and reinforce this message and to show that through our collective and collaborative effort in RCSI, with chaplains, student support officers, students’ unions, disability support services, buddy students and staff,  we can safeguard our mental health and well-being together.

The loss- experience through suicide can be intense and complex and in solidarity with all other Colleges and Universities engaging with the ‘Please Talk Campaign’, RCSI students and staff shared reflections and presence to remember all those impacted by this loss. The shared reflections focused on remembering that we all are vulnerable and fragile and we need to remember to cherish those things that keep us connected and nurtured.

Corriena Brien, Student Services Manager, commended the students who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the service.  She went on to add that she personally felt moved by the ceremony this year and that the newly renovated Serenity Room certainly added to the atmosphere of this special event.