World Suicide Prevention Day; our ongoing commitment to suicide prevention
World Suicide Prevention Day is Saturday 10 September 2022 and provides the opportunity for people and organisations across the globe to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention.
This year’s theme is ‘creating hope through action’; encouraging and empowering people to take action to help create a world where fewer people die by suicide.
The Trust will be launching our 2022-2025 suicide prevention strategy later this month. The refreshed strategy highlights our ongoing commitment and plans to prevent suicide within our organisation, services and communities.
The strategy has been created using local, regional and national data, alongside insight and experiences from our suicide prevention champions, wider Trust staff, service users and their families and carers.
The strategy covers many areas and factors that put people at risk of suicide, including the impact of alcohol and drug misuse on mental health conditions and treatment (also known as dual diagnosis), and the importance of family and carer involvement in a person’s wellbeing, alongside the use of collaborative care planning.
In addition, it looks at how capturing information about people, including their protected characteristics, can help us understand the ways in which different communities and groups can be at risk of, or affected by, suicide.
Staff wellbeing and the sharing of training and learning from events is also paramount to the strategy.
Carmain Gibson-Holmes, deputy director of nursing, quality and professions at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We know that suicide is preventable and not inevitable, and we can all play a role in preventing suicide.
“There are factors that can lead to a person being at increased risk of dying by suicide. This includes living alone and being socially isolated, unemployment and financial pressures, alongside significant life events such as a bereavement or a breakdown of a relationship.
“Asking someone if they are suicidal will not increase their risk of suicide or encourage them to consider this as an option. In fact, asking someone directly about suicidal thoughts could help to save their life.”
Further information and resources on suicide prevention or support for those bereaved by suicide can be found at: