Ben Giles > Quotes

“A death, any death, is certain to change the universe of at least one person – and often many more. But, like the ripples of a stone thrown into a pond, as it moves outwards, the force becomes smaller.”
― Ben Giles, The Specialist: An extraordinary memoir of trauma and biohazard cleaning

“Around half of all deaths in the UK happen in hospital. Another 20-25 per cent occur in a care home and around 5 per cent in a hospice. Only around 25-30 per cent of deaths happen at home and, once you’ve taken out those that are called ‘planned or expected’ deaths, around 10 per cent of those home deaths are down to suicide or violence.”
― Ben Giles, The Specialist: An extraordinary memoir of trauma and biohazard cleaning

“It might feel strange to talk about the practical aspects of the aftermath of suicide, but there is a real danger in not talking about it, because it is the utterly wrong idea of the logic – the neatness, the ease and, for want of a better word, the glamorised status of suicide – that can actually make it more likely. When you have faced the aftermath as many times as I have, I can reassure you that none of these things is ever true.”
― Ben Giles, The Specialist: An extraordinary memoir of trauma and biohazard cleaning