Family Focus: Protecting life

On this week's Family Focus, we look at a vital counselling service in Banbridge, County Down, which is facing a struggle for funding.

The Protect Life service, which operates at a local GP surgery, helps people with mental health problems and their families.

Since its introduction, there has been a reduction in suicides in the area.

Several years ago, Banbridge had the highest suicide rate in Northern Ireland - now it has the second lowest.

Sarah Travers has been talking to mother-of-one Leanne Moore who has spoken openly about suffering from post-natal depression after giving birth to her son, Callum.

She said she was in a "very dark, lonely place" and suicidal.

"I just wanted to go to sleep and not waken up again," she said.

However, after being referred to the counselling service she said she began to feel "life was worth living again".

She feels strongly that the service should be better funded, adding: "I'm not afraid to admit that it saved my life."

Family Focus looks at the work being done in Banbridge to tackle the suicide rate in the town which, a few years ago, was the highest in Northern Ireland.

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