Contact Hours tells a powerful story about student suicide

A few years ago, writer Rufus Love was working in a theater when he started talking to a colleague. The man told him that he had been a university director but had to resign from his position after being found out more than once students in their rooms by who died suicide. The pain and trauma were too much to continue working. “He told me, ‘I had to be the one knocking on the doors that hadn’t been opened in a while,’” Love recalled. The independent.

This story has inspired Contact hoursa thrilling short film written by Love and directed by Harry Richards. The film stars Kris Hitchen (as seen in Ken Loachs Sorry we missed you) as a caregiver, and model-actor George Osborne as his son. With quiet power, the psychological drama follows the janitor as he discovers a student who has taken his own life in their room. In the argument, he is confronted with and reevaluates his relationship with his own son, who is struggling in silence.

Together, Love and Richards know six young people in their cohort at the University of Edinburgh who died by suicide. “We both also have friends across the country who are mourning their losses or thanking their lucky stars for the near misses,” Love said, “so it feels like a really important moment to tell this story.”

The statistics are grim. One in five people will experience suicidal thoughts in their lifetime. Suicide has also affected members of the film’s production: “Many of our cast and crew have been very sadly affected by suicide,” Richards said, “and while we were in post-production on the film, one of our very close friends and crew members said lost someone they knew to suicide. It reminded us all of the urgency to get this film made as quickly as possible and shown to as many people as possible.”

For love, the point of Contact hours is to normalize these feelings and try to “destigmatize them and take away the shame.”

“It’s saying that just because you have these thoughts doesn’t make you a bad person or make you wrong in any way,” he said. “It’s incredibly common and it’s something you can work through, and the way to get through it is to get it off your chest and let other people see your pain.”

The film’s unique perspective, from the person a student discovers, is also important. “We wanted to provide insight into how brave these people are,” Love said, “and how difficult the consequences can be. We wanted to shine a light on that to thank them for their work and support them in dealing with any emotional impact.

“Where possible, we want to start this conversation so that universities, colleges and other institutions can do their best in prevention, but also postvention, and ensure that these frontline responders, students in the area and the university culture as a whole succeed to respond in the best possible way so that people stay safe. Caring for people all around the suicide is of the utmost importance to the film and to us.”

Contact hours had its first exclusive preview in London this week, with more events set to take place in the coming months. “Next year we are going to take the film to universities,” Richards said. They plan to screen the film with live Q&As to spark life-saving conversations between students, parents and universities.

“We hope people come away with a sense of hope,” Love said, adding that, unexpectedly, they found their research process and conversations with people affected by suicide, as well as frontline professionals, “life-affirming and joyful.”

“It is of course also difficult, but in those spaces where people share their struggle, or that of their friend or family, everyone is possible can come away feeling warm and full and with a renewed gratitude for the sanctity of life.

Learn more about Contact hours here.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans in confidence on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected], or Samaritans website for more information about your nearest branch.

If you live in the US and you or someone you know needs mental health care right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis line that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go there www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.