​125 take their own lives in the UK every week. Following years of lockdowns and entering an unprecedented cost of living crisis, an urgent conversation about suicide is needed more than ever.

CALM needed a new campaign to put suicide prevention back on the national agenda. A campaign that focused not just on raising awareness, but also on tackling a deep-rooted problem in the nation’s perception of suicide.

The problem: people think they know what suicidal looks like. If they don’t see these stereotypical warning signs, they hesitate to intervene.

The reality: the signs of someone feeling suicidal aren’t what you might expect. In fact, when someone takes the decision to end their life, they often go from appearing down to extremely happy.

So on Monday 20th June, we unveiled a huge installation of 50 smiling portraits on the South Bank – with no mention of CALM or suicide. As people walked through, they saw people living what appear to be rich, happy, care-free lives.

On the morning of Wednesday 22nd June, the true nature of the exhibition was revealed live on This Morning alongside reveal posters at the location and a massive national campaign. The reveal: these are the last photos of people who soon after took their own lives. Proving that suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal. Viewers were guided towards an online toolkit offering practical advice for preventing suicide.

The campaign captured huge international attention, with 1.5bn earned impressions across 769 individual pieces of news coverage. And most importantly, itt kickstarted a huge conversation about suicide, with mentions of suicide increasing by 33% since the launch.​