Campaign urges public to ‘pause before you post’ after sudden deaths

Public Health Gibraltar has launched a new campaign urging people to think carefully before posting or sharing information on social media following a sudden death in Gibraltar.

The ‘Pause Before You Post, Care Before You Share’ campaign, developed by the Suicide Prevention Alliance, highlights the potential impact that online posts can have on bereaved families and vulnerable people.

“The campaign asks the public to stop and think before posting or sharing on social media when a sudden death is reported in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a small and close community, and news travels quickly,” said a statement from No6 Convent Place.

Public Health Gibraltar and the Alliance said they recognised that the immediate outpouring of grief that often follows a sudden death comes from genuine care and concern.

But they warned that families have, in some cases, learned of a death through social media before relatives were able to contact them, with relatives abroad or otherwise out of contact particularly affected.

The campaign also warns that sharing images, footage or descriptions of how a person died can place vulnerable people at risk.

“Re-posting social media content may trigger others with thoughts of suicide into acting,” said the statement.

“The campaign has three main messages. First, deaths by suspected suicide in Gibraltar are rare, and support is available for anyone who is struggling or who is worried about someone else.”

“Second, when a sudden death is reported, whether by the Royal Gibraltar Police or by members of the public, please pause before you post and care before you share. Please do not share footage, images or any description of how the person died.”

“Third, not every member of the family may yet know. Sharing details of how a person died can also place another vulnerable person at risk.”

Instead, the Alliance is encouraging people who want to post online to share positive memories and recollections of the person, including time spent together at school, work or elsewhere.

It said these were the types of posts that families and friends could return to later and find comforting.

The Alliance also encourages people to post on the social media pages of the funeral directors, so that family members are made aware of the death in an appropriate way. The campaign was developed by the Suicide Prevention Alliance in partnership with Walking Together, which supports families and friends bereaved by suicide. Further information about the Suicide Prevention Alliance and its work is available on the Public Health Gibraltar section of the GHA website.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Helen Carter, said: "Every sudden death in Gibraltar is felt across the whole community, and the instinct to reach out online comes from a good place.”

“What we are asking is simply for people to pause. Pause for the family who may not yet have been told and pause for the person reading who may be more vulnerable than you know.”

“Sharing the detail of how someone has died carries a real risk to others, and there is strong evidence behind that.”

“Post the memory. Post the photograph from the beach or from work but please leave out the detail of the death.”

“That single change in habit protects families and it protects lives.”

“Pause before you post.”

“Care before you share."

The Minister for Health, Care and Business, Gemma Arias Vasquez, said: “This campaign asks something small of each of us and it asks it at the hardest possible moment.”

“When we hear that someone has died suddenly, our first instinct in Gibraltar is to reach for our phones, because that is the kind of community we are.”

“Public Health Gibraltar and the Alliance are not asking anyone to stop caring, they are asking us to care in a way that protects the family who may not yet know, and that protects the next person who is struggling.”

“I want to thank the Suicide Prevention Alliance and the Director of Public Health and her team for their work in this area throughout the year."

Support is available through GibSams free on 116 123 or through its online chat service at gibsams.gi.

Childline Gibraltar can be contacted on 8008 by children and young people up to the age of 19, as well as adults concerned about a child, while Teenline is available on 8009 for young people aged 11 to 18.

The GHA can be contacted on 111. In an emergency, call 999.