Every year, September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day, focussing attention on the issue, reducing stigma and raising awareness among organisations, government, and the public, giving a singular message that suicide can be prevented.
“Creating hope through action” is the triennial theme for the World Suicide Prevention Day from 2021 – 2023. This theme is a reminder that there is an alternative to suicide and aims to inspire confidence and light in all of us.
Mental health is a major focus of the Institute, and are members continue to support huge numbers of patients with their mental health, and we are proud to support a number of initiatives for people facing mental health difficulties, including Suicide Prevention Day.
The National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) is a cross-sector, England-wide coalition working reduce suicide in England, led by Samaritans. The NSPA want to get all parts of society working together to take action to reduce suicide and improve the support for those affected by suicide.
- Reducing stigma: We want all parts of society talking about suicide and taking action to maintain good mental health, so that it is as normal as talking about and maintaining physical health.
- Encouraging help-seeking: We want more people who are experiencing emotional distress to seek help before they become suicidal.
- Providing the appropriate support: We want to ensure that when people in emotional distress seek help, they receive appropriate support from the people or organisations they approach and that they are offered appropriate options.
- Reducing access to means: We want it to be harder for people experiencing severe emotional distress to have access to the means to take their own life.
- Reducing the impact of suicide: We want to ensure that people affected by suicide get the support they need to cope with the impact on their life.
- Improving data & evidence: We want there to be better official data about suicide in England and more evidence about effective suicide prevention. Those working in suicide prevention should find it easier to obtain this data and evidence.
- Working together: We want organisations with an interest in suicide prevention collaborating with each other to make a bigger difference.
