Suicide prevention

National strategies and plans

• Suicide prevention strategy for England: 2023 to 2028
  This strategy sets out the government’s ambitions over the next 5 years to reduce suicide rates, improve support for people who have self-harmed, and improve support for people bereaved by suicide
• Suicide prevention: cross-government plan
  (January 2019) – this plan details how the government will work with the NHS, local government and voluntary sector to reduce suicides.

Public Health England resources and guidance

Suicide prevention: developing a local action plan aims to support local authority public health teams to work with sustainability and transformation partnerships to implement local suicide prevention plans and embed work within local sustainability and transformation plans.

A Suicide Prevention Profile has been produced to help develop understanding at a local level and support an intelligence driven approach to suicide prevention. It collates and presents a range of publicly available data on suicide, associated prevalence, risk factors, and contact with services among groups at increased risk.

Public Health England has published a resource of emerging practice examples on mental health promotion and prevention training programmes and resources and guidance for local authorities, public healthcare professionals and others to prevent suicides in their areas.

Suicide prevention: identifying and responding to suicide clusters - This toolkit, based on research into suicide clusters, is part of PHE's support for the government’s suicide prevention strategy.

Suicide-safer universities guidance

With funding from the OfS, Universities UK and Papyrus (the UK's national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide) published the Suicide-safer universities guidance in 2018 to help university leaders prevent student suicides. There is separate guidance aimed at university leaders and section practitioners. This includes:

• advice on developing a strategy focused specifically on suicide prevention
• steps to prevent student suicide
• intervening when students get into difficulties
• best practice for responding to student suicides (postvention)
• case studies on approaches to suicide prevention through partnership working
• checklist highlighting steps university leaders can take to make their communities safe.

Support for placement students

This checklist from Universities UK has been created to enable providers to better support students’ mental health with placement opportunities. This builds on the Suicide-safer universities guidance with a specific focus of the placement journey. It includes:

• how to work with placement providers to ensure student safety
• preparing students for placements and transitioning back into academic study
• case studies on universities currently supporting student mental health with placements.

Information sharing

The information sharing guidance from Universities UK is designed to help providers understand when to involve families, carers and trusted others. Students' networks can play an essential role in supporting students who may be at risk of mental ill health. The guidance includes:

• advice on how and when to approach trusted contacts
• how to have conversations with students about information sharing
• advice on sharing information in emergencies
• case studies on student contact statements and critical incidents liaison processes.

How to respond to a student suicide

The Suicide-safer universities guidance on how to respond to a student suicide is designed to help universities develop compassionate and proactive responses to a suspected suicide. By providing timely support, universities can help create safer environments for their communities through limiting potential risks and following protocol to support recovery. This resource, developed by the sector, offers practical advice and promotes a three stage framework:

1. Proactive preparation and planning.
2. Responding to student suicide.
3. Reviewing, evaluating and learning.

It also provides a series of tools to accompany the guide including a ‘postvention checklist’ and ‘forming a postvention team’.

Further guidance and training

• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
  A two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid and more.
• Charlie Waller Trust
  Set up in 1997 by the family of Charlie Waller shortly after his death by suicide at the age of 28 during a period of depression. It provides training, resources and information for young people, and those with a responsibility for them, about their mental health and wellbeing. The Trust has produced an E-learning package, which is open access training for non-specialist staff, designed to help develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to offer a first line of support to students who may have mental health issues.
  They have also developed a guide for college staff for talking to students about suicide.
• Grassroots
  A suicide prevention charity that helps to create safe spaces in communities for potentially lifesaving conversations about suicide.
• Health Education England
  Health Education England and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health have launched a series of self-harm and suicide prevention frameworks. The competency frameworks describe activities that need to be brought together to support people who self-harm or are suicidal.
  The e-learning resource 'We need to talk about suicide' aims to provide support for volunteers and health care professionals, enabling them to recognise early warning signs of suicide, and feel more confident in raising the issue of suicide with people they are concerned about.
• The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
  The ICO website provides information and guidance on data sharing. 
• Jisc: Student analytics: a core specification for engagement and wellbeing analytics
  This report from Professor Edward Peck explores how providers can use data and predicative analytics to improve student services.
• National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA)
  The NSPA is an alliance of public, private and voluntary organisations in England that work together to take action to reduce suicide and self-harm, and support those bereaved or affected by suicide.
• PAPYRUS
  A national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide, PAPYRUS provides resources for universities including training and a guide for teachers and staff.
• Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings
  Edited by Sharon Mallon and Jo Smith, this practical book covers issues related to suicide risk, prevention and postvention in higher and further education communities.
• R;pple
  R;pple is a free browser extension tool designed to ensure more help and support is provided to individuals who are conducting searches relating to self-harm or suicide online. R;pple intercepts harmful online searches and triggers a message of hope as well as a selection of mental health resources in a range of different options (call, text, webchat) from free, established and 24/7 charity services. Email [email protected] for more information.
• safeTALK Suicide Alertness
  A half-day suicide prevention training course with practical steps that can offer immediate help to someone having thoughts of suicide using the TALK steps – Tell, Ask, Listen and Keep-safe.
• Samaritans
  Samaritans provide a number of useful resources, including guidance for supporting someone with suicidal thoughts, support for people bereaved by suicide, media guidelines for reporting suicide and online resources that reinforce industry codes of practice, supporting the highest standards of coverage of suicide.
• STORM skills training
  This offers suicide prevention skills training for frontline workers.
• Student Minds ‘Student living’ guidance
  Research and recommendations on university accommodation for university and accommodation sectors, which includes some reference to suicide safer policies.
• Suicide Bereavement
  Suicide Bereavement offer Postvention Assisting those Bereaved By Suicide (PABBS) training which aims to increase the knowledge, skills and confidence of health and care professionals so that they can appropriately respond to and care for those bereaved or affected after a suicide.
• Support after suicide
  UK network of organisations and policy makers, which is involved in delivering suicide bereavement support.
• The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - Information sharing and suicide prevention: consensus statement
  Working in consultation with other organisations the DHSC has published a refreshed version of the consensus statement (2021).
• The University Mental Health Charter sets out principles of good practice for universities to follow regarding prevention, intervention and postvention of suicide.
• University Mental Health Advisory Network (UMHAN)
  UMHAN have developed clinical governance guidance that is aimed at all specialist services, teams or individual staff members involved in supporting students with mental health conditions.
• Zero Suicide Alliance
  A collaboration of NHS trusts, charities, businesses and individuals who are all committed to suicide prevention in the UK and beyond. The Alliance provides free suicide prevention training accessible to all and it also works in partnership with a range of organisations, including higher education providers, to offer bespoke training.

Organisations and advice for students

Urgent support

• Mind, the mental health charity offers support by phone or online.
• NHS guidance for people with suicidal thoughts and where to get urgent help for mental health. Includes information on the immediate help and support available to individuals.
• Nightline
  A listening, emotional support and information service, run by students for students. Nightlines are open at night, run by trained, caring, fellow student volunteers. Nightline can be contacted by phone, face to face, by email or by online chat.
• Samaritans
  A charity dedicated to reducing feelings of isolation and disconnection that can lead to suicide. They offer listening and support to people and communities in times of need and have guidance for people with suicidal thoughts.
• Shout 85258
  Shout 85258 is a free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging support service for anyone who is struggling to cope.
• Student Space
  A website designed to make locating support easier for students. It hosts a broad range of information and guidance, access to dedicated support and a tool to help students find support at their university. All services are free and confidential.
• Students against depression
  This website offers advice and information to those affected by low mood and who may be experiencing suicidal thinking. It is a website by students for students, and includes signposting, self-help resources and guidance.

Further training and support for students

• Grassroots 'Stay Alive' suicide prevention mobile phone app
  The Stay Alive app is a pocket suicide prevention resource. It can be used if someone is having thoughts of suicide or if there is concern about someone else who may be considering suicide. It includes resources, a safety plan and a life box where photos can be stored.
• Staying Safe
  This website provides ‘Safety Plan guidance tools’, jointly funded by NHS England, with easy to print and online templates and guidance video tutorials purposefully designed to help people through the process of writing their own Safety Plan – to build hope, identify actions and strategies to resist suicidal thoughts and develop positive ways to cope with stress and emotional distress.
• Student Minds ‘Look After Your Mate’ workshop
  Based on the Look After Your Mate guide for students, this workshop empowers students to support friends experiencing mental health difficulties, while looking after their own wellbeing.

Academic papers

The following are a selection of academic papers that relate to suicide in higher education or suicide in young people:

• ‘Suicide and deliberate self harm in young people’ Hawton K, James A (2005)
• ‘Explaining non‐help‐seeking amongst young adults with mental distress: A dynamic interpretive model of illness behaviour’ Biddle L, Donovan J, Sharp D, Gunnell D (2007)
• ‘Depression, desperation, and suicidal ideation in college students: results from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention College Screening Project at Emory University’ Garlow SJ, Rosenberg J, Moore D, Haas AP, Koestner B, Hendin H, Nemeroff C (2007)
• ‘Trapped in transition: findings from a UK study of student suicide’ Stanley N, Mallon S, Bell J, Manthorpe J (2009)
• ‘The power of the web: A systematic review of studies of the influence of the internet on self-harm and suicide in young people’ Daine K, Hawton K, Singaravelu V, Stewart A, Simkin S, Montgomery P (2013)
• 'Understanding suicidality and reasons for living amongst Doctoral Researchers: A thematic analysis of qualitative U-DOC survey data' Cassie M. Hazell, Clio Berry, Jeremy E. Niven, Jay-Marie Mackenzie, (2021)
• 'Bearing witness: A grounded theory of the experiences of staff at two United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions following a student death by suicide' Causer H, Bradley E, Muse K, Smith J (2021)