A colleague of mine committed suicide. The reason was alcohol. A year later – a classmate. Two more colleagues also committed suicide, followed by another friend and then – an acquaintance. So far, I have lost 8 friends. Then stories started reaching me – someone’s mother, father, brother or a lover committed suicide.

I live in Lithuania, where people commit suicide three times more often than people in other European countries. Around 1,000 people a year, or almost 3 a day! However, the authorities haven’t made any effective decisions. We only have about 300 volunteers in three biggest cities, and the workload is so huge they can pick up only every fourth or fifth call. We’ve got only 2,8 million people. We seem to have a death wish.

What can I do? I am a known actor, so I invited people over Facebook, urging to donate to a suicide prevention hotline called “Jaunimo linija.” They can only pick up every 4th or 5th call, and these donations can help them pick up every 2nd or 3rd. I decided to do something big in the Cathedral square of our capital Vilnius as well. 1095 people were invited to lie down (statistically 3 people commit suicide every day) in the square. Around 500 came. Despite that, I believe the event reached it’s goal- the media keeps receiving articles by specialists and people are discussing the issue online. The event was spread to 12 000 people on Facebook.

More info: Youtube

As of today, I have lost 8 friends to suicide

Image credits: Karolis Janulis

I live In Lithuania where people commit suicide three times more often than people in other European countries

Image credits: Ieva Budzeikaitė

However, no urgent decisions from the authorities are made. We only have a few volunteers picking up only every fourth or fifth call

Image credits: Lukas Balandis

We’ve got only 2,8 million people. We seem to have a death wish

Image credits: Youtube

I’ve decided to do something about it and that’s how the event Ghost was born

Image credits: Vladimiras Ivanovas

I invited 1095 people to lie down in the Cathedral Squere of our capital city Vilnius for every suicide made in the last year

Image credits: Vladimiras Ivanovas

Sadly, only 500 came, but we still managed to get the attention we need

Image credits: Vladimiras Ivanovas

I have also invited people to donate to the suicide prevention hotline so our volunteers could pick up every call

Image credits: Justina Butkutė

Every life matters, so we need to do everything we can to save them

Image credits: Mindaugas Kulbis

You can watch the full event here:

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