Category: Suicide

Strengthening the frontline: Investing in primary care for effective suicide prevention

Centre for Mental Health, May 2019
This report explores the role of GP and primary care services in helping people who are at risk of suicide. About 6,000 people die by suicide each year in the UK. Only a third are in contact with mental health services in the year before their death, but many visit their GP in the months before their death. The report identifies five areas for improvement to help GPs to offer life-saving support:

  1. The provision of effective, ongoing training for GPs
  2. Investment in the capacity of primary care services to enable longer appointments and continuity of care for patients needing ongoing support
  3. Emotional support for GPs themselves
  4. More effective care pathways for people who feel suicidal to clinical and social support
  5. Opportunities to refer patients who need more specialist support.

Click here to view the full report.

Preventing suicide: A community engagement toolkit

World Health Organization, September 2018
Communities play a crucial role in suicide prevention. This toolkit follows on from the World Health Organization (WHO) report Preventing suicide: a global imperative (WHO, 2014) by providing practical steps for engaging communities in suicide prevention activities.
Click here to view the full report.

Suicide prevention and peer support in the armed forces: Looking after your team

Ministry of Defence, September 2018
This guide gives advice on how to identify signs that someone may be having difficulties, ways of offering support and information on where help can be found. It builds on the range of support already available to service personnel who are struggling with their mental health, including access to specialist mental health medical care, training and education on good mental fitness and the Combat Stress 24-hour Mental Health Helpline.
Click here to view the guide.