Dear Friends

To have been involved with PAPYRUS from the very beginning has been an interesting exercise ! We Trustees have ventured into unknown territory – none of us ever having been involved in setting up and running a charity before -  and I for one have  had, probably, the most interesting and enriching experiences of my life along the way.

 

Over the years we have been very careful to ‘not run before we can walk’ This has had to be balanced with systematically taking the organisation forward – not an easy thing to manage.

 

The result is that we are now a well

So……..Welcome to Rosemary Vaux of Ravenstone Public Relations who is helping us to raise our profile, and to Claire Bennett who has the challenge of securing more funding for PAPYRUS.

 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Business Consultant Roy Windley for his interest and support over the past few months.

 

Finally, I hope you will be able to join us at the annual Members’ Meeting and AGM which will be held in Oxford on October 14^th. We hope to have a speaker from the Oxford Centre for Suicide Research. As last year was such a great success we’re going to meet up once again on the Friday evening for a meal and social get together.

 

See you there !!

 

Sincerely

Anne Parry

‘The overall objective of our public relations activity is to raise the profile of PAPYRUS as the sole UK charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide. In particular our initial focus is to deliver a clear message that suicide is preventable and to establish HOPELineUK as the first ‘port of call’ for anyone concerned that a young person may be feeling suicidal. By

established, highly respected organisation whose services are in increasing demand and with an income which is steadily growing year by year.

 

The down side is that our staffing levels and accommodation are totally inadequate to meet our needs.

 

If you think you can help us I urge you to consider becoming a Trustee – we desperately need input from people who have the commitment and expertise to help us to take PAPYRUS forward.  If you’re at all interested feel free to ring Tony in the office for an informal chat.

 

For the first time ever we have been able to allocate a small budget for PR which is so vital for publicising HOPElineUK.  Recently we also appointed a fundraiser who will work one day a week. She will concentrate mainly on submitting funding applications to Charitable Trusts, Government departments etc.

 

increasing awareness of the helpline, our aim is to increase the call rate, thus helping to highlight the need for additional funding.

 

We have begun a comprehensive campaign to build open communication with key media contacts in order to raise our share of voice on the subject of suicide prevention. We are working  across a broad range of disciplines that cover medical, health, men, women, youth and parenting - including problem page and agony aunts. As well as seeking to exploit news opportunities linked to the release of suicide statistics and ‘anniversary’ dates such as Men’s Health Week and World Suicide Prevention Day, we are working individually with target publications to encourage feature editorial.

 

PR is not a ‘quick fix’, most effectively it is planned, deliberate, regular communication aimed at target media to reach priority audience groups.

 

By delivering clear messages we aim to encourage media to feel comfortable that suicide is an ‘OK’ subject to cover, that there needs to be more awareness of the help that is available and that PAPYRUS leads in the prevention of young suicide.

 

I value your thoughts, ideas and personal experiences that may be used to help spread the word. I can be contacted via the PAPYRUS office.’

Getting on with your relations

Rosemary  Vaux explains her PR strategy:

Tony Cox, Denise Hardman and Ann Stook