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Suicide: policy context

The Scottish Executive's Choose Life strategy and action plan PDF Button(210kb), was launched in December 2002.  This ten year National Strategy and Action Plan has seven objectives:
  • Early Prevention and Intervention:  providing earlier intervention and support to prevent problems and reduce the risks that might lead to suicidal behaviour
  • Responding to Immediate Crisis:  providing support and services to people at risk/in crisis, to provide an immediate response and to help reduce the severity of any immediate problem
  • Longer Term Work to Provide Hope and Support Recovery:  providing on-going support and services to enable people to recover and deal with the issues that may be contributing to their suicidal behaviour
  • Coping with Suicidal Behaviour and Completed Suicide:  providing effective support to those who are affected by suicidal behaviour or a completed suicide
  • Promoting Greater Public Awareness and Encouraging People to Seek Help Early: ensuring greater public awareness of positive mental health and well-being, suicidal behaviour, potential problems and risks amongst all age groups and encouraging people to seek help early
  • Supporting the Media:  ensuring that any depiction or reporting by all sections of the media of a completed suicide or suicidal behaviour is undertaken sensitively and appropriately and with due respect for confidentiality
  • Knowing What Works:  improving the quality, collection, availability and dissemination of information on issues relating to suicidal behaviour (and self-harm) and on effective interventions to ensure the better design and implementation of responses and services and use of resources.

While the strategy acknowledges that suicide affects all parts of society, a number of priority groups are identified:

  • Children (especially looked after children)
  • Young people (especially young men)
  • People with mental health problems
  • People who have attempted suicide
  • People affected by the aftermath of suicidal behaviour or completed suicide
  • People who abuse substances
  • People in prison

The strategy states that it is also important to focus on:

  • People who are recently bereaved
  • People who have recently lost employment, and people who have been unemployed for a long time
  • People in isolated or rural communities
  • People who are homeless

In addition to those listed above,  the strategy acknowledges that there may be further local priority groups for action.

The National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being allocated £12 million to support the first phase of implementation of Choose Life over 2003 - 2006. A further £8.4 million is being invested over 2006 - 2008. Each year £3.2 million of the National Programme's allocation is provided to local Community Planning Partnerships to help support local suicide prevention work. A National Implementation Support Team has been established to progress work at a national level and to support local activity.

Choose Life was established by, and operates under the auspices of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being in Scotland. The Choose Life website is the key suicide prevention portal for Scotland.  The website provides details of local and national activity, as well as information on training, research, awareness raising and other initiatives.

The Scottish Executive's Delivering for mental health plan sets out targets and commitments for the development of mental health services in Scotland.  Published in December 2006, it makes a commitment that 50% of all key front-line staff are to be trained in using suicide assessment tools/suicide prevention programmes by 2010.