Suicide Prevention Strategy Consultation

Report - 31 March 2016

Recent statistics have shown that the suicide rate in Wandsworth has increased. However, if the right support is available and accessible at the right time, suicide can be preventable. Find out what local people told us about the subject.

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services with staff that can actually help support.

What we did

We became aware that Wandsworth Council intended to address this issue via their new Suicide Prevention Strategy and we felt that it was important to engage with Wandsworth's residents to understand their experience of local mental health support services.

The impact of suicide is varied, ranging from psychological to economic effects. The issues involved and the factors leading to suicide can potentially affect anyone.

The Wandsworth Suicide Audit identified that at risk groups include:

Men
People with drug and alcohol related issues
People with mental health issues
People with debt and relationship problems

We particularly wanted to focus on men because, of the deaths from suicide in Wandsworth, there are 4 men for each woman. The consultation was open from 5th January 2016 to 22nd February 2016.

We developed a survey and approached specific groups to reach vulnerable people who could be identified as potentially at most risk. The groups we were successfully able to speak to included groups with varied participants. However, the survey was designed to be general enough to capture the opinions of anyone, because suicide can potentially affect anyone.

Due to the sensitivity of the consultation, we ensured that our survey was accessible on all our social media platforms and website, with a link to Survey Monkey, where the survey could be completed anonymously.

Key Findings

It is important to mention that we found particular barriers and challenges undertaking this survey that we have not experienced with other consultations.

The stigma behind the issue appeared to prevent people from opening up about their experiences.

When we did speak to people face to face, conversations were challenging for both the respondents and the outreach workers due to the distressing nature of the topic.

We found that:

Services need to:

Increase and make their support available and easier to find.
Be quicker when people are in distress or facing difficulties.
Ensure they are sensitive to the needs of users, particularly the vulnerable groups, e.g. how to communicate with and engage men.
Have less explicitly labelled ‘suicide prevention’ but issues should be ‘normalised’ to remove the stigma in using the services.

Awareness and Information :

There is a general lack of awareness therefore:

A Public campaign including the media, TV and internet could raise awareness of the issues involved and to change opinions about suicide as well as the help available.
A campaign to provide key information to recognise the signs, to get help and to help people help themselves and others could be launched.
Information, including posters and leaflets to be widely available and accessible, ‘normalising’ and removing the stigma about difficulties leading to suicide.