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04/11/2008
Welsh Suicide Action Plan Launched
A new action plan that aims to reduce suicide and self-harm in Wales has been launched today by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Teachers, GPs, employment advisers and police are to be trained to spot signs of mental health problems as part of the plans to reduce the country's suicide rate.
According to the government, almost three-quarters of people in Wales who complete suicide are unknown to mental health services in the year prior to their death.
The Mental Health First Aid training programme has been running in some parts of the country, but will be rolled out across the country. A 24-hour mental health helpline will also be launched.
Other new commitments include increasing research and surveillance on suicide; closer working with the media to ensure sensitive reporting of mental health and suicide issues; and more work to restrict access, wherever possible, to the means of suicide, such as geographical 'hotspots'.
An annual suicide and self-harm prevention summit will also be held to allow research, learning and local successes to be shared nationally.
Health Minister Edwina Hart said there needed to be a change to the "culture" around mental health issues, so signs could be identified, and support provided "at an early stage in order to reduce the rate of suicide and the numbers of those who self harm".
She added: "Every suicide is a tragedy with a life and family member lost. For those left behind suicide leaves a wound that in many cases never heals."
The Minister revealed preparations for the action plan in February, on the same day police publicly ruled out suicide pacts as the cause of a series of deaths in Bridgend.
Some 23 young people have reportedly taken their own lives in the area since January last year.
On average, 300 people die by suicide each year in Wales - a lower rate than Scotland or Northern Ireland but higher than England - with the rate remaining static over the last decade.
(JM)
Teachers, GPs, employment advisers and police are to be trained to spot signs of mental health problems as part of the plans to reduce the country's suicide rate.
According to the government, almost three-quarters of people in Wales who complete suicide are unknown to mental health services in the year prior to their death.
The Mental Health First Aid training programme has been running in some parts of the country, but will be rolled out across the country. A 24-hour mental health helpline will also be launched.
Other new commitments include increasing research and surveillance on suicide; closer working with the media to ensure sensitive reporting of mental health and suicide issues; and more work to restrict access, wherever possible, to the means of suicide, such as geographical 'hotspots'.
An annual suicide and self-harm prevention summit will also be held to allow research, learning and local successes to be shared nationally.
Health Minister Edwina Hart said there needed to be a change to the "culture" around mental health issues, so signs could be identified, and support provided "at an early stage in order to reduce the rate of suicide and the numbers of those who self harm".
She added: "Every suicide is a tragedy with a life and family member lost. For those left behind suicide leaves a wound that in many cases never heals."
The Minister revealed preparations for the action plan in February, on the same day police publicly ruled out suicide pacts as the cause of a series of deaths in Bridgend.
Some 23 young people have reportedly taken their own lives in the area since January last year.
On average, 300 people die by suicide each year in Wales - a lower rate than Scotland or Northern Ireland but higher than England - with the rate remaining static over the last decade.
(JM)
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