Mental Health Awareness – Suicide Prevention Strategies- White Paper
As the ongoing conversations for Mental Health Awareness continue this month in May, it remains crucial that we continue to discuss an ever-prevalent and significant issue that impacts on so many of us. For anyone who has been affected by suicide, we know this is never an easy conversation to be had but all the same there is so much we can do as indivduals, communities, and as organisations. At RLB we are have said it for as long as we have been in existence, we are determined and truly committed to create impact across workplaces and within services by educating and demonstrating how awareness, safeguarding protocols, and planning can truly help to change or support healthy cultures and support individuals and sectors.
I recall several occasions very vividly when I was informed that someone I loved or knew had taken their own life. The horrifying feeling and level of helplessness completely consumes you. A thing that nobody should have to experience. A time where life and work circumstances have made a person feel so low and worthless that they too wanted it all to end. When they could not speak out to family or friends and their employer chose not to listen or support them and we know too often how fast this can all unravel. To all of the incredible professionals and individuals who are supporting people with their issues and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, or the aftermath of suicide. We constantly discuss things like stress awareness, burn-out, mental ill health and vicarious trauma but it doesn’t really mean much unless we are really trying to understand these issues on a deeper level and focusing on how to implement and embed prevention strategies.
So let’s start by saying it out loud… mental ill health does exist, suicide does happen and we need to understand it and work at how we beat it! We all have a duty of care to one-another, to ourselves and also as employers.
Mental Health is a complex subject that is all about the state of a person’s mental wellbeing. Most of us who work in this field know that 1 in 4 adults in the UK experience at least one diagnosis of a mental health problem in any given year but everyone's experience with mental health will be different even if diagnosed with the same condition.
Over 1 billion people worldwide are suffering with their mental health in some way, including suicidal ideation, self-harm, substance abuse, and neurological disorders, as well as considering how a person’s loved ones can be affected by these issues.
This is why policies such as the Suicide Prevention Strategy for England: 2023 – 2028 exist to help prevent people suffering with their mental health from taking that step towards harming themselves or ending their lives.
This white paper will explore the important topic of mental health awareness, suicide prevention, and what can be done to help. Looking into present strategies and past case studies we will dive into what can be done to prevent suicide, help those who are struggling, and how it affects the workplace and wider world around us.
In 2023, 5,579 Suicides were registered in England, that is 11.1 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. This was significantly higher than in previous years. 17 per 100,000 people were male whereas 6.1 per 100,000 people were female.
Not only do these statistics show the high number of people struggling in the world but they also highlight why we have chosen to write about this important topic. Our customers have also educated us at RLB on a significant level by opening up about their sectors and their cultures to work together in a partnership to understand and plan for prevention strategies internally. A huge thank you to those who have worked with us and continue to do so, kudos for what you are striving for within your workplace for your people.
Suicide Prevention Strategy for England: 2023 to 2028
In September 2023, the Suicide Prevention Strategy was put into place to lay out a 5-year plan to prevent people from dying by suicide. It speaks about the need to work together to tackle this problem and bring awareness to why we should talk about our mental health and how we can prevent people from feeling like ending their lives is the only way out.
Since the last prevention strategy in 2012 a considerable amount of progress has been made, including the implementation of local suicide prevention plans and bereavement services across all areas of England, and collective efforts being made to improve patient safety which led to a 35% fall in suicides in mental health inpatient settings.
However, while this is a great step forward in improving suicide plans the rates are still significantly too high. This is why the 2023 – 2028 Suicide prevention strategy’s main aim is to bring everyone together to create common priorities and set out actions that need to be taken, which include:
Reducing the suicide rate over the next 5 years.
Promoting online safety and responsible media content to reduce harm and improve support and signposting.
Improving the support for people who have self-harmed/self-injured.
Reducing access to means and methods of suicide where appropriate.
Improving the support for people bereaved by suicide.
Providing effective bereavement support to those affected by suicide.
Improving data and evidence to ensure that effective evidence-informed and timely interventions continue to be adapted.
Providing effective crisis support across sectors for those who reach crisis point.
Providing tailored, targeted support to priority groups, including those at higher risk.
Making suicide everybody’s business to maximise the impact and support to prevent suicide.
Adressing common risk factors linked to suicide.
Doing your bit!
When presented with a person or a loved one who is suffering it can be hard to know what to say or do to help. Here are 5 dos and don’ts to help someone in distress:
What to do
Seek Help – if you are worried about a person's wellbeing talk to them and if you can’t inform the right people who can!
Listen Calmly – Ensure you listen to what they are saying and stay calm.
Provide Resources – Ask them to seek help and provide them with the resources to do so, e.g. suicide support helplines.
Let them know you care – Simply letting them know you are there for them or assuring them that you love being around them can make all the difference.
Take action – if you’re worried that they are at risk of hurting themselves take action.
What not to do
Don’t say you know how they feel – Even if you have struggled with mental health, you cannot know exactly what they are feeling, and it makes the conversation more about you!
Don’t compare their situation – Everyone's situation is different, don’t invalidate their feelings by saying things like others have it worse, it isn’t a contest!
Don’t undermine their feelings – Saying “It’s not that bad” or “Stay positive” will invalidate their feelings and not help the person who is opening up to you.
Don’t ignore the warning signs – People who are depressed or suicidal will ask for help if not verbally than in other ways, these are a cry for help do not ignore them!
Do not keep it a secret – Even if they confide in you and ask you to keep it a secret, don’t. Their safety is more important if you are worried, they are at risk tell someone!
Mental Health in the workplace
Many suicides can be caused by workplace stress, whether that be heavy workloads, workplace bullying, or job insecurity. This is why it is important for employers to provide a safe working environment where their employees feel able to discuss their issues to prevent it from getting too bad. But how can they do this?
Here is a list of things employers should have in place:
Signposting – Have appropriate signposting of where they can find support and how they can help others.
Provide accessible support – ensure there is a safe place for them to go to discuss their issues.
Encouraging employees to talk about their struggles.
Creating a safe working environment for your employees.
Educating employees on how to access support or around different issues that can affect us or others.
Providing appropriate training – Ensure they understand what your procedures are and what they should look out for if someone is struggling. This includes additional training for Mental Health First Aiders or Advocates in safeguarding protocols.
Appointing a Designated Safeguarding Lead team to ensure that effective governance is in place.
Having an ongoing critical friend, advice, or support system in place if the experise does not exist in-house or if the support does not extend to employees and is service user based only.
Regular check-ins with employees to see how they are doing. Data can be a huge help.
If you’re worried about an employee talk to them and talk to someone else.
Don't do nothing!
It is important to ensure that your employees are safe and feel safe at work, don’t wait until it is too late.
People who have lost their lives to suicide
There is no main cause for suicide, but many contributing factors can be attributed to someone feeling the need to end their life. Contributing factors can include loneliness, bullying, PTSD, money troubles, work stress, and grief to name a few.
Below we explore two different situations of suicide relating to the workplace and the struggles that these people faced before taking their own life.
Malcolm Anderson – Unmanageable Workloads. In February 2018, a 48-year-old university lecturer took his own life. Malcolm was under an enormous amount of pressure at work, working with around 600 pupils and given a huge volume of work. Before his death, he had been asked to mark 418 exams in 20 days, but he never finished them.
Police said that Malcolm had left two notes, one for his family and one admitting that the workload had finally gotten to him.
George Cheese – Workplace Bullying. In 2015, an 18-year-old took his own life in the woodland near his home in Woodley Berkshire. George had been working at an Audi garage in Reading for 6 months before his death.
After leaving the Army due to fracturing both of his legs in 2014, George was happy to secure a job working at Audi. However, his time at Audi was not what he had hoped for and was filled with non-stop bullying.
In the 6 months that he worked there, he had been locked in a cage, put in a car boot, hosed down with water, and even had his trousers set alight. He had reported these events to his line manager and so had his parents when visiting the garage, but this only led to more ridicule by colleagues who mocked him for telling his parents. Thames Valley Police investigated Audi after George’s death but didn’t find sufficient evidence to prosecute.
These are just two of many cases where people have taken their own life due to struggles at work, but many others die by suicide every day due to many other reasons. This is why we are working hard to tackle this huge issue and prevent suicide. The reality is extremely powerful and it is time we aimed for more.
If you have any concerns about the issues raised in the white paper or need any help or advice, please get in touch. Our team offers full support and training around issues like this and can advise and train employers and employees on safeguarding those experiencing depression, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health diagnoses. Please find a list of helpful links below. With the above in mind, RLB are officially partnered with Our Minds Work- who are committed to supporting HR and wellbeing leads to drive effective mental health and wellbeing strategies for cultural change through accredited training and consultancy support. We work in partnership to ensure that wellbeing and mental health strategies are fully implemented with safeguarding and crisis management and post suicide procedures being fully embedded and understood. We have been able to successfully complete this work in many organisations across the UK and on a global scale.
If you would like to discuss how your organisation can prioritise wellbeing, mental health, suicide prevention and safeguarding then please contact us for a free consultation at hello@rlbsafeguarding.co.uk
All of our RLB Safeguarding training courses discuss these topics as standard and the content is built into our programmes: Click here for more information.
Resources
Gov Website - Suicide Prevention Strategy 2023 – 2028: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/suicide-prevention-strategy-for-england-2023-to-2028
Suicide Prevention Charities:
Suicide Helplines:
Samaritans: Call 116 123
Papyrus (Prevention of Young Suicide): Call 0800 068 4141 or Text 88247
SOS Silence of Suicide: 0808 115 1505
SPUK (Suicide Prevention UK): 0800 689 5652