I want to die, and I want to try living

Young people in the UK are facing the highest rates of suicidality in 30 years

The NHS (2025) reports that the number 16- to 64-year-old who identify with a common mental health condition, such as anxiety or depression, has risen from 17.6% in 2007 to 22.6% in 2023/4. Today, self-harm rates have quadrupled from what they were in 2000, and young people are the most likely demographic to report lifetime suicidal thoughts.[1] And that’s not all. Every day in 2023, approximately five young people took their lives.

In fact, suicide is the main caused of death in those under 35 across the UK, and even by age 17, approximately 7% of young people have attempted suicide. [2] But this doesn’t have to be the case.

For many, the roots of their struggle can often be traced back to early childhood trauma, which must be met with long-term, compassionate, trauma-informed care. When we think of childhood trauma, we think about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. These are a subset of research-defined experiences that are “potentially traumatic events or chronic stressors that occur before the age of 18 and are uncontrollable to the child”, such as abuse, violence, or parental loss.[3]

Research shows that children with a high ACE score are at risk of long-term mental and physical health challenges, and, when left unaddressed, might face a reduced life-expectancy by 20 years.

Those who experience a high number of ACEs in childhood face a disruption of their neurological development which impairs their emotional regulation, and heightens the risk of life-threatening conditions, including alcoholism, cardiovascular disease, and suicidality. [4]

This is not to say that everyone who has experienced a certain number of ACEs will struggle with their traumatic experiences, but rather that they are statistically more likely to face long-term difficulties in both their physical and mental health. Not just that, but their complex experiences are less likely to be understood as part of a bigger picture through typical medical pathways that put emphasis on short-term solutions. Oftentimes, their needs are too complex, and require a steady deconstruction of ingrained cycles of self-harm, emotional dysregulation, and suicidality.
That’s where we come in.

Studies on neuroplasticity confirm that targeted intervention can rewire trauma-impacted pathways, mitigating long-term harm by breaking the cycle. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) specifically has been proven to restructure neural networks associated with emotional dysregulation and high risk behaviours, and that’s where our focus lies.[5]

In 2017, we expanded our mission to think more widely about trauma, suicidality, and how young people can transform their lives to free themselves from the lasting effects childhood adversity. Looking at those communities we had historically supported since 1997, we realised that there were common threads throughout these stories of HIV, immigration, poverty, racism; one of those being trauma, and how it often lends way to suicidality.

We also understood that typical, and oftentimes systematic, approaches to mental health care was ineffective. Our public systems put an emphasis on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and talking therapies, which, while useful for those with low to moderate needs, is insufficient in responding to complex trauma. We found that our members had a good understanding of their own lived-experiences and thought patterns, and having bounced between different therapists, facilities, and doctors, were overfamiliar with trying the same things over and over again.
Instead of this approach, we thought we could do something different.

While CBT focuses on identifying thoughts and behaviours, DBT allows for a more broader focus on building skills to tolerate distress, manage intense emotions, and engage in healthy relationships.

Rather than focusing on the who, what, and the why, we ask, ‘how can we live a life beyond the now?’

How can our lives be lived with intention? How can we commit to life when we still struggle with bad days, low moods, anger? How can we be both suicidal and committed to life at the same time?
That’s our first step; to lead through dialectics. DBT forms the backbone of our evidence-based model, with studies demonstrating DBT’s effectiveness in reducing self-harm and suicidal behaviours, as well as lowering the frequency of psychiatric crisis service use.[6]
We lead through the dialectical – to understand how two things that seem opposite could both be true – with no ‘but’s, and no ‘or’s.

We start simple: I want to die and I want to try living.