The Martin Gallier Project says demand for its crisis intervention work has soared this year—driven by a sharp rise in women turning to the charity for life-saving support.
00:00They're the first people many turn to when life feels unbearable and the Martin Gallia Project says it's never been busier.
00:08The world-based charity which delivers suicide prevention, intervention and post-vention support has reported a 59% increase in demand so far in 2025 compared with last year.
00:21I feel like we passed capacity a really long time ago and you know one of those things where it feels like this can't possibly get any busier and then it does.
00:29And it does day on day here. It will have like record-breaking numbers referring in and the next day it will be more.
00:37And our ethos is that we see everybody. We see everybody at the time that they need it in their community with no waiting lists, no barriers to access, no criteria.
00:46And we stand firm in that. However, it's not sustainable at the level of kind of demand that we're at right now.
00:52Founder and Chief Executive Jessica Gallia-Booth says the rise is unprecedented, stretching its teams close to breaking point.
01:01And despite the surge, the teams maintained a zero waiting list offering help within 24 hours or immediately for walk-ins.
01:09We've got sites in the Wirral, Chester, Macclesfield and Crewe, but we do serve the whole of the North West.
01:15And we exist to support anybody considering suicide, anybody of any adult age, any gender, any socioeconomic background or any ethnicity.
01:23The charity's data suggests that women are increasingly seeking help before reaching crisis point.
01:30Chief Operating Officer Darren Basner says the pattern of crisis is shifting, she explained.
01:36More women than ever are now walking through their doors.
01:38Mothers, carers and professionals who've been holding everything together until they can't anymore.
01:44Women are juggling so many plates and are not taking the time to look after themselves because they genuinely don't have that time.
01:52We see a lot of women who are coming to us with issues in relation to hormones.
01:56And we see that a lot. So we're seeing people that are perimenopausal, menopausal, people with PMDD, people, young women who are just kind of starting that journey.
02:08With demand up by more than a half, the charity estimates it needs at least £50,000 extra a year to sustain current support and around £170,000 to expand into Liverpool.
02:20I'm very proud and it's very difficult to ask for help, but we need help if we're going to continue to see the amount of people that we're seeing right now.
02:29We need a funder, a business, the general public.
02:34We need everybody to get behind us and help us generate that income that we need to meet that demand and meet that demand safely.
02:40Independent evaluation by Liverpool John Moores University shows the charity's model works, cutting A&E re-attendance by 69% and saving the NHS over £1 million a year.
02:53But without government funding, leaders say future growth depends on grants, donations and new partnerships.
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