The Mary O'Gara Foundation

The Mary O’Gara Foundation was founded in memory of 27-year-old Mary O’Gara who was lost to suicide on 30 May 2020. We are a not-for-profit charity and run by Mary’s family with the help of Mary’s friends and our wonderful volunteers. In the UK, suicide is the single biggest killer in young people under the age of 35. Each day 5 young people take their lives, and some 200 school children die each year from Suicide. Research shows that with appropriate intervention and support; suicide can be prevented. We are an organisation dedicated to the prevention of young suicide. By addressing the causes of suicide in young people and fostering positive conversations around mental health and suicide prevention across Lancashire and the whole of the northwest, we hope that fewer families and friends have to suffer the devastating ripple effect suicide causes. We achieve our aims by spreading awareness and information – primarily in the following forms: (1) Training – the Foundation provides fully funded suicide prevention training to those responsible for young people across Lancashire, including in schools, colleges, universities clubs and businesses It provides the tools needed to identify and support a young person in crisis. (2) Awareness – promoting positive discussion around the issue of suicide, empowering people and communities to identify and respond to those in need and encouraging anyone who is struggling to seek help by breaking the stigma surrounding suicide. We are driven by a simple and clear belief that suicide is preventable.