Suicide prevention — it’s the people who make it happen
Our national delivery lead Haylis Smith reflects on the last twelve months for suicide prevention in Scotland.
It is hard sometimes in suicide prevention to see what difference is truly being made by the work you are doing. This time of year, is often the time when I stop, look back and reflect on what has happened in the last year — and what difference it has or will make.
At a recent meeting, I asked people working in suicide prevention if they had any piece of work they wanted to share, to talk about something they had done which went well.
There was complete silence and the usual looking at the floor. This is not surprising. It is also not because this group of people were doing nothing, because I know they are doing lots to try and make a difference.
They are the group of local suicide prevention co-ordinators who work tirelessly week in and week out to try to make their communities safer from suicide. Some of them have been working in suicide prevention for 20 years or more.
So why is it then that they don’t want to talk about the work they are doing? Why do they not want to shout it from the rooftops and be proud of what they have achieved?
I asked this question of them, once we got past the ‘because we’re Scottish and it’s not the done thing’ I think we got closer to the truth.
The reality is despite all of this great work, people are still dying of suicide and every single person who dies by suicide hits us hard, it brings a sense that we just aren’t doing enough and so to shout about what we are doing feels wrong.
They were worried about the impact it would have on people bereaved by suicide and on those who had felt they didn’t get the support they needed when they had suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
Some of this might be true. It might be the case that people affected by suicide might feel like we still aren’t doing enough. But equally, if we don’t talk about what we are doing and how we are trying to make a difference, how will anyone know?
How will people who are thinking about suicide know where support might be available? How will people who want to be able to help, know where they can access training so they can learn how to do this? How will people who have been bereaved by suicide know what help is out there and how to access it? How will our communities know how to support each other? How will we know who we can work with to help to make the difference?
So, as I look back on 2023, I’m going to lead by example. I’m going to write here about some of the successes for me this year, about the things that have gone well and about the potential this has to help reduce suicide in Scotland.
For me, working in suicide prevention is about the people. Without the dedication and commitment from many across the country, suicide prevention work would not happen.
So, I’m going to focus my 2023 reflections on the people (not naming any names because I know I’ll forget someone really important!) and on developing Suicide Prevention Scotland, the network which is being established to bring together people working in suicide prevention across Scotland.
This has been a key feature of my work this year. This will help to shape how we can work well together, how we can learn from each other, how we can support each other and help to raise the profile of the great work happening across the country.
So far, we have:
Established the leadership team — bringing together Samaritans, SAMH, Penumbra, Change Mental Health and Public Health Scotland to lead on delivery of the work under each of the outcomes set out in Creating Hope Together. This group have worked well together, thinking about how we can make best use of the resources we have to deliver the commitments in the action plan with a focus on how we tackle the inequalities associated with suicide risk. The delivery plan for this year set out the activity which forms the foundations for the work which will be delivered over the coming years.
Brought together every month the people and organisations working at a national level who have responsibility for delivering or supporting the actions in Creating Hope Together. This includes our delivery leads, implementation leads, capacity builders, academic advisors, comms team, organisations supporting lived experience, training support, peer support, bereavement support etc.
The buzz in the room when all these people are together is great. Their passion and enthusiasm for suicide prevention is contagious and a real motivator. They are creative, innovative and real example of the power of partnership working where there are no hidden agendas, no preciousness and just a real focus on what we want to achieve.
We’ve continued to create space for local suicide prevention co-ordinators to come together, to be with others who are doing similar roles, to get some peer support, to learn from each other. As I said earlier, they and their partners, work tirelessly in their communities and their ongoing commitment is inspirational.
They have helped develop resources which will help in their roles, contributed to national pieces of work to help shape it to also meet local needs and generally just been a brilliant bunch of folk to work with. It is great to see the development of local action plans so that local suicide prevention priorities can be addressed making sure the needs of our communities are at the heart of the work they do.
I’ve had the chance to connect with lots of charitable organisations working in suicide prevention and been blown away by the work they do.
It has been a pleasure to visit and speak to many of these organisations over the last year. They are often established through a suicide loss or through seeing a need in their community and wanting to do something about it.
To see how people can turn these experiences into something positive is truly humbling and I know they are making a huge difference to people affected by suicide. I’m looking forward to having many of these organisations represented at the event we have planned for 23rd January 2024 and listening to their ideas about how we can work well together
Speaking of events, we held an event for organisations who work with marginalised communities in November.
There was so much information shared during the session that we are still working through it. I am really grateful to the organisations for giving up their time to help build our understanding of the needs of communities who are not often asked about what would help. I’m looking forward to building these relationships further in the years to come and working closely to help address the inequalities faced
Building connections across different national organisations is also a key feature of suicide prevention work. I’m grateful to all the different organisations who I have met over the last year who want to support our work. This helps us reach into areas we wouldn’t have the ability to reach otherwise.
There has also been a lot of training delivered this year and although I haven’t yet had the chance to connect to the trainer network, I know they are doing so much to build the skills and confidence in our workforce and communities to provide support to people when they are at risk of suicide. I’m looking forward to joining some of the trainer network in March 2024
There also a lot of unsung heroes who support the work we do. The policy teams in COSLA and Scottish Government who beaver away in the background, making sure we have everything we need to deliver the planned work, booking rooms, planning travel arrangements, making connections and planning meetings all takes time and without this support my job would be much harder.
Finally, the time I get to spend with our Lived & Living Experience Panel and Youth Advisory Group are without doubt the best experiences in my working life. Every single person who supports our work through these groups are phenomenal.
They have taken some of the most difficult experiences any human can have and used them to make things better for the future. I have always said I wish I had never met them, that they had never had the experiences they have had which had brought them into my life, but I am eternally grateful that they are here.
I know that some members of these groups have now moved on, but their legacy is firmly etched in the work we’ve delivered and in the work we have planned for the future, they set the standard for those who will come after them. I am looking forward to meeting the new members who are now joining us and working with them to deliver the action plan over the coming years.
I know we still have a long way to go, but I can’t help but look back on this year and feel we are heading in the right direction. That we have the right people working alongside us and that together we can make a difference.
I wish everyone a peaceful festive period and I look forward to what we can achieve in 2024.
If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health or feeling suicidal, please don’t hesitate to ask for help by contacting your GP, NHS24 on 111, Samaritans on 116 123 or Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87.
