CCIS is a ‘lifeline’ for Foyle Search & Rescue

Funding for the life-saving CCIS runs out at the end of June and the Department of Health has said it cannot fund the critical service.

A spokesperson for the Department also said that as the pilot service was led by Derry City & Strabane District Council, it was for the Council to decide  on its future

Derry City and Strabane District Council are to seek an urgent meeting with the health minister over the funding crisis for the service.

Stephen Twells, Foyle Search and Rescue chairman, said that the Council should not have to take the lead on the service, as it falls under the Protect Life 2 strategy.

“It is a mental health service and council should not be funding it,” he said.

“From our point of view it would be a real shame to see that service stop. It is a disgrace no department is going to step up to fund it.”

He said the CCIS is a ‘lifeline’ for Foyle Search and Rescue.

“When we come across someone who needs immediate counselling we can take them away from the river and to the CCIS. Without them all we have is the police station or accident and emergency and they are not the right place, especially for someone feeling down or suicidal who is willing to talk to someone.

“I know for a fact that the number of deaths in that river has reduced in the last year because of the CCIS.”

Mr. Twells said the prospect of the service ending is ‘very worrying’ for his organisation, particularly at a time when the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to ease.

He observed: “It is not a lot of money they are looking for when you consider the cost of the impact of suicide on the community.

“Lockdown is having an impact on everyone, people who have maybe lost their jobs or have struggled with isolation, and it is really worrying for us that this service could stop.”

Mr. Twells added that Extern, which runs the service, has been doing ‘a brilliant job. Not enough people are shouting about it and I don’t know what we would do without it’.

He said that he personally knows of people who have had contact with Foyle Search and Rescue in the past and have ‘never come back’ after receiving counselling from the CCIS.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand it unless they have been affected by it, but you never know when you might need this service,” said Mr. Twells.