A4 MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2020
Tracking an Outbreak
NGAINSBOROUGH, England — The
group of seven volunteers in high-visibil-
ity vests, equipped with GPS trackers
and radios, gathered in the parking lot of
a nature preserve on the outskirts of
town.
“We’ll take the red route,” Rick Rob-
erts said, shining his flashlight over a
map of the woodland, as his breath
formed a cloud in the cold, late-Novem-
ber air.
The group fanned out on the trails in
teams for the next hour, the beams of
their high-power flashlights crisscross-
ing through the trees outside Gainsbor-
ough, a once bustling market town
nestled along the winding River Trent in
Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands of
England. They were there as part of
Night Watch, a suicide-prevention initia-
tive started just a few weeks earlier to
monitor known suicide hot spots in the
area, and they were looking for people in
crisis.
This night was a good one: They found
no one.
But the past few weeks have been
busy for the Bearded Fishermen, the
mental health charity behind the patrol
project, and its co-founders, Mr. Roberts
and Mick Leyland. With England just
emerging from a second lockdown, they
have seen a measurable uptick in calls
for support and an increasing need for
their crisis services as the community
grapples with the fallout of the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
“The cold and wet weather, long
nights, it does affect a lot of people,” Mr.
Leyland said. “And being on lockdown as
well, it’s even worse.” In one recent week
alone, they had responded to a number of
crisis calls, including some from people
threatening to take their own lives.
With the coronavirus pandemic devas-
tating Britain and two national lock-
downs leaving many feeling isolated, ex-
perts say there are rising concerns about
the mental health and well-being of peo-
ple across the country. Research has
shown a rise in reports of loneliness, a
particular concern for young people, dif-
ficulties for those with pre-existing men-
tal health issues and an increase in re-
ports of suicidal ideation.
Though there is no recorded uptick in
the national suicide rate yet, the risk of
suicide among middle-age men remains
concerning in Britain, where for decades
the group has made up the highest num-
ber of suicide deaths.
The impact of the pandemic and its
knock-on effects — lockdowns, an eco-
nomic downturn and social isolation —
on mental health have been well docu-
mented around the world. And in Britain,
which is simultaneously grappling with
the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in
Europe and a deep recession, health ex-
perts worry that the impact could be felt
for years to come.
Some neighborhoods in Gainsborough
are considered the most deprived in Lin-
colnshire.
David, 22, who asked that his last
name be omitted to protect his privacy,
lives in the town and has struggled with
depression and alcohol abuse for years.
“I was brought up by my granddad, so
I was brought up to think, it doesn’t mat-
ter what’s going on, you have to just be
strong,” he said. For David, the lockdown
has posed new challenges. With his liv-
ing situation growing more unstable and
job opportunities dwindling, the stresses
have added up.
“The pandemic has definitely made
things a little bit more difficult, because
there’s not as many services to access
support from face-to-face,” he said, add-
ing that the lack of human connectionhad been hard. He said that the Bearded
Fishermen’s support provided a lifeline,
but some days were better than others.
In some ways, Mr. Leyland said, the
town feels “forgotten,” often overlooked
in funding, even as “homeless, jobless
and low-income residents see their men-
tal health adversely affected by the pan-
demic.
“There are a lot of people here who
have been out of work for a while, who
desperately want work,” Mr. Leyland
said. “They get to that point where they
think, ‘I’m better off not being here.’ ”Mr. Leyland and Mr. Roberts officially
registered the Bearded Fishermen char-
ity — its name is a nod to their shared
love of fishing and to the bushy facial hair
they both sport — as the pandemic was
just beginning in March. When England
entered a second national lockdown,
they began the Night Watch patrols.
The pair’s own mental health strug-
gles and path to solace serve as powerful
testimony. Both have survived suicide
attempts. After being homeless for a
time, Mr. Roberts moved to Gainsbor-
ough, and the two became friends during
weekly fishing outings with a group of
other men.
“We both suffer from depression and
anxiety, and so fishing was a release for
us,” Mr. Roberts said. “We used to sit
there just chatting about things that we
won’t chat to anyone else about.”
They thought others, particularly men
who struggle to open up, could benefit
from similar support. Late last year, they
began a weekly community group,
where men could “hash out their prob-
lems” over cups of tea at a local commu-
nity center, Mr. Leyland said.
When the pandemic made gatherings
impossible, they moved their meetings
online. Then they set up the call center
this summer, providing phone support
24/7.
“If someone doesn’t want to ring up be-
cause they’ve got it in their head that this
is what they are doing,” Mr. Leyland said
of people considering suicide, the patrols
were an opportunity to intervene. The
group works with emergency respond-
ers and the community to identify hot
spots, and also helps search for missing
people when their families have nowhere
else to turn.
The charity has also found itself in-
creasingly responding to mental health
calls at residents’ houses. Last week,
workers were called out to the home of a
28-year-old man whose wife said he was
threatening to end his life. He had al-
ready written a suicide note. They spoke
with him before calling the ambulance
and police services, and referred him for
counseling.
The situation in the Gainsborough
area reflects the larger mental health
strain across Britain. A report published
by the British Journal of Psychiatry in
October found an increase in reports of
suicidal ideation during the pandemic.
Young people, individuals from more so-cially disadvantaged backgrounds and
those with pre-existing mental health
problems reported worsening conditions
during the first national lockdown in the
spring.
Mette Isaksen, a senior researcher
and evidence manager at Samaritans, a
British mental health charity that was a
partner in the research, said that while
the study revealed worrying trends, it
did not necessarily mean suicides would
rise.
“It’s just so important that people
know they can get help,” she said. “Sui-
cide is not inevitable.”
The Mental Health Foundation, which
has been carrying out a nationwide
study of the pandemic’s impact on men-
tal health in Britain, found that reports of
loneliness spiked during the first lock-
down. The research also noted that,
while some negative emotions reported
early on — like anxiety, stress and panic
— had dropped, feelings of loneliness
and isolation had persisted.
Dr. Antonis Kousoulis, the foundation’s
research director for England and Wales,
said certain groups were of particular
concern, including young people, who re-
ported feelings of hopelessness at a
markedly higher rate than the rest of
population. Many with pre-existing men-
tal health issues have also seen their con-
ditions worsen, he added.
“We are seeing that we are all in the
same storm, but we are not all in the
same boat,” Dr. Kousoulis said of the find-
ings.
For Mr. Leyland and Mr. Roberts, the
concerns for young people are also front
of mind after a series of suicides and at-
tempts in the nearby town of Winterton
in recent weeks. With youth clubs closed
and activities halted, they said many felt
hopeless.
“It’s going to feel like the year that
wasn’t,” Mr. Leyland said.
In response, volunteers with the
Bearded Fishermen met with a group of
teenagers at a makeshift memorial in
Winterton for a young man who recently
died by suicide, to offer their support.
“You’ve got a whole park fence just
covered in flowers,” Mr. Leyland said of
the tribute, his voice thick with emotion.
He still feels a deep sense of regret over
the young man’s death. “It’s like, maybe I
could have been here two weeks earlier.
But no one knew.”ENGLAND
Their Community in Crisis, ‘Fishermen’ Answer Call
Support Group Works
To Prevent Suicides
Workers and volunteers from the Bearded Fishermen charity patrolling woods, a known suicide hot spot, near Gainsborough, England, last month.PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESMick Leyland, left, and Rick Roberts, the Bearded Fishermen, set up a call center, right. After a second lockdown, they’ve had an uptick in calls for support.Suburban Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands of England, was once a bustling market town.
‘There are a lot of people here who have been out of work for a while, who desperately
want work, they get to that point where they think, “I’m better off not being here.”’
MICK LEYLAND, co-founder of the mental health charity the Bearded Fishermen
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a
list of additional resources at
SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources or, if
you’re in Britain, at nhs.uk/conditions/
suicide.
By MEGAN SPECIA