The Best Guide for the NN12 Area

Suicide prevention in Northamptonshire

Author: Kathryn Hall

Published: 17th October 2018 10:20

Suicide prevention in Northamptonshire

Suicide is a taboo topic in our society, some people do not like to talk about it and do not feel able to intervene when they believe a loved one is at risk.  

But every life lost represents someone's partner, child, friend or colleague, and their death will profoundly affect people in their family, their friends, their workplace and the people they know through clubs, groups and in their local neighbourhood.

There were 55 deaths were recorded as a conclusion of death by suicide in 2016-17 in Northamptonshire.  The rate of suicide in Northamptonshire broadly mirrors the England average and the East Midlands Region but there is some variation in the rate of suicide across the County.

Daventry is the only district that is statistically lower than the England average with all other districts in the County statistically similar to the England average.  Around a third of people who die by suicide are known to mental health treatment services.   

Suicide is preventable, therefore it is vital that partners across the county work together to ensure that suicide prevention plans are jointly agreed and implemented through activities that reach out across the County.   

Local authorities are well placed to prevent suicide because their work on public health addresses many of the risk factors, such as alcohol and drug misuse, and spans efforts to address wider determinants of health such as employment and housing.  

There are also important and varied opportunities to reach local people, particularly the most vulnerable who are not in contact with health services through on-line initiatives or working with the third sector.

It is important to realise that local authorities cannot do this on their own and it is vital that there is strong partnership working across all sectors.  A local suicide prevention plan has been developed following on from the Northamptonshire Suicide Prevention Strategy that was published in 2017.

The plan includes a number of priorities including a high impact campaign to reduce self-harm and suicide risk, training around suicide prevention awareness, targeting support for high risk groups (such as middle aged men) and increasing resilience in school settings to reduce prevalence of self-harm in young people.

Cecile Irving-Swift, Cabinet Member for Public health said:

“The suicide prevention plan will bring together organisations with expertise in mental health, providing a holistic approach to suicide prevention, hopefully saving many lives.”

Implementation of the plan is the responsibility of the County wide suicide prevention steering group.  It includes representation from Northamptonshire County Council’s Public Health Department, Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (the provider of mental health treatment services), the Samaritans, MIND, Northamptonshire Police, Coroner’s Office, Nene and Corby Clinical Commissioning Groups, East Midlands Trains and ServiceSix.      

Northamptonshire County Council’s Public Health Department are leading the partnership work around suicide prevention and will fund projects in the near future that will support the implementation of the action plan.

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