Hundreds helped by suicide prevention group

Founder Mel Griffin said the Violet Project was "constantly being asked to do more"

A charity set up by a woman whose sister took her own life says it has helped more than a thousand people.

Mel Griffin, from Coventry-based charity Violet Project, said her experiences showed the need for their support was "unfortunately increasing".

Speaking on World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday, Ms Griffin said the death of her sibling when she was 13 in 2011 still affected her.

She started working to support others after that and she said that moment had changed her "whole life really".

"I started working in suicide prevention, working with different organisations to try and make a change to least one person and ultimately we've done that," Ms Griffin added.

"We're now saving over a thousand people and we support families that have been bereaved by suicide as well."

The charity's team carried out what they called "walk and talks" in the community on Tuesday.

They also launched a new suicide bereavement group related to the Black Country area.

But Ms Griffin said World Suicide Prevention Day "is all day every day".

"I don't think we've actually had a free weekend since probably May, working in different communities, different areas across the Midlands," she added.

"[That's] to make sure that we're present and we're supporting individuals and just having that safe place for people to pop along to and have a chat if they're just struggling that day."

The founder said the charity was "very much in the community" as there were "amazing services out there" that were already offering phone lines.

"We felt there was something missing in the community of offering in-person support," Ms Griffin said.

If you have been affected by the topic discussed in this article, support is available via the BBC Action Line.