How politicians can prevent suicide

• Around two-thirds of people who take their own lives are not in touch with mental health services in the year before they die.
• We need a specific plan, backed with proper funding, for reaching and supporting these people. All Government departments need to take responsibility for suicide prevention, using every route available to them, for example, through debt advisors and housing associations, to reach people on low incomes at risk.

• Middle-aged men on low incomes have been the highest risk group for suicide for many years. Despite this, far too little is known about what really works to support this group when they are struggling.
• We need evidence-based services which are built on an understanding of how best to reach this group and what they actually want, supporting them to deal with the full range of issues they’re facing.

• Levels of self-harm are rising among young people. In England, the proportion of people saying they had self-harmed at some point in their lives nearly tripled between 2000 and 2014 to over 6 per cent.
• The specialist support that young people need just doesn’t exist in many cases. The great majority of people who have self-harmed never receive formal medical support, and so the issue stays largely hidden in communities.
• Although most people who self-harm don’t go on to take their own lives, it is a strong predictor of future suicide; many people who take their own lives have self-harmed in the past. Self-harm is a sign of severe emotional distress, and everyone who self-harms should have access to support to help them identify and address the reasons for their distress, and find alternative coping mechanisms.

• A recent Samaritans study found that there’s still a real gap between local councils’ suicide prevention plans and what is actually being delivered with ever more stretched resources.
• Councils must be funded to effectively implement their suicide prevention plans and share information and best practice with each other. They also need the resources to provide services that address the risk factors for suicide, such as substance misuse and debt.

Harmful content relating to suicide and self-harm is far too easily accessible online. We want to see this content minimised, while opportunities for support and help online are maximised.

As well as creating a new online regulator and standards for the UK, the Government should be leading international action to set out a framework for a suicide-safer internet. Without this comprehensive, international approach, vulnerable people will remain at risk.