Last week, on Tuesday 24th April in Thornton Heath, a woman was spotted on the ledge on the top floor of a block of flats on Brigstock Road. She stood there for almost 6 hours before she, thankfully, re-entered the building and was transported to a South London hospital, where she is now receiving the help she needs.

Police, London Fire Brigade, and London Ambulance Service all arrived at the scene after a call was made at 3:15 regarding concerns for the woman's safety, cordoning off part of the surrounding area and trying to disperse members of the public, watching. Brigstock Road was closed, along with shops such as Tesco, Superdrug and smaller businesses. It was deemed necessary to close Thornton Heath station, and 50, 198, 250 and 450 bus routes were all diverted in order to avoid the scene.

Some of the surrounding people were seemingly ignorant to the reality of what was happening, filming it on their phones to post on social media, and shouting out cruel remarks such as "Just jump and get it over with so we can all go home".

People then started tweeting about the issue, one person, Merenna Wilson, stating 'I really struggle with a society that instinctively responds to a potentially suicidal woman by filming it on their phone. Are we that detaches from humanity and compassion?'

There has also, however, been controversy over the way members of the public were being treated and discriminated against during this. The TFL team were reporting uniformed teenagers and young adults as culprits of nasty behaviour throughout the time the woman was up there, but it seemed to be older members of the community who were actually doing more wrong than good, and getting away with it.

All around me, I saw young people getting shouted at for standing where they were when they physically couldn't move due to the density of the crowd. Once I got out of the mass of people, I was able to take another look around and realised that it was, in fact, more often the older members of society who were filming and cursing at the woman. Mothers with pushchairs and primary school children were standing, allowing their young children to watch. It really proved the way youth is seen as criminal, when in fact they had not been doing anything wrong.

This event sparked awareness in the Thornton Heath community for members who are struggling with mental illness or are potentially suicidal. 

The Samaritans offer a free number to call, which does not show up on phone bills. If you or someone you know is struggling mentally, please call 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org.

Yasmin Ammour - Norbury Manor BEC