World Suicide Prevention Day

Friday 10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day.

One of our industry friends, Harry Bliss of Champion Health has written a very thought-provoking guide about suicide, and how we can try to prevent this from happening.  The World Health Organization estimates that over 700,000 people take their own life each year – that’s one person every 40 seconds.

The report goes into further detail of how despite the progress we’ve made around normalising mental health, suicide remains a misunderstood and taboo topic. This stigma persists throughout our communities and wider society, despite many of us being touched by suicide in some way. It’s time this changed.

The theme of World Suicide Prevention Day this year is “Creating Hope Through Action”. This reinforces that our actions, no matter how big or small, can provide hope to those who are struggling. It’s also a reminder that we are all key players in suicide prevention, as a member of society, as a parent, as a colleague or as a friend. Through action, we can all make a difference. We can all play a role in supporting those experiencing a suicidal crisis or those bereaved by suicide.

Champion Health have published this free guide to help dispel the myths around suicide and provide actionable steps that everybody – including organisations such as us – can take to support those who may be struggling.

The guide can be downloaded here.