What kills someone in the world every 40 seconds? And someone in the UK every 2 hours? What kills more than war and homicide combined? Suicide.

There are many myths surrounding mental illness and suicide prevention, the most damaging perhaps being that if a person is considering suicide, then there is nothing that can be done to stop them. In fact, the WHO tells us that, ‘suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions’. Thankfully, myths and attitudes towards mental health are being challenged more and more. Campaigns such as Mental Health Awareness Week (The Health Foundation, May 2015) and #FindMike have given increasing prominence to the way society responds to mental health issues, a common theme among them all being that small acts and talking can have a big impact.

‘I didn’t feel it was that big a deal, I did what anyone would do. I wasn’t trying to fix his problems that day, I just listened.’ – Neil Laybourn, #FindMike

Mental health and suicide prevention will be brought to global attention with the International Association for Suicide Prevention hosting World Suicide Prevention Day (#WSPD15) on September 10th on the theme of Reaching Out and Saving Lives. Through this, they aim to support, not only those at risk of suicide, but anyone who has been bereaved by suicide and also anyone who can be involved in prevention to help spread the word and reach out to prevent suicide. We will be supporting the day by tweeting throughout it and also holding a separate tweetchat on the theme of suicide prevention on Thursday September 24th. 

There are 800,000 deaths per year and 27 times that many people attempt suicide. With such high numbers of people affected, WHO have recently made suicide prevention an international public health priority. Suicide and suicide attempts cross boundaries and do not discriminate in who is affected, making it even more appropriate for us as healthcare professionals to get involved. You cannot know if your next patient is affected - either thinking about it themselves, or directly affected by the death of someone else. It is therefore imperative for us as healthcare professionals to create conversations that reduce stigma and to encourage people to seek support they need, as well as knowing what to do if our next patient (or even a colleague) were considering ending their life. Join us on September 24th and help bring this very important topic to the lime light by tweeting and discussing what allied health professionals can do to raise the profile of mental health, support people’s mental health, and reach out to help prevent suicide.

Taking part in the chat? Suicide is a very emotive subject and the reason for this Tweetchat is to start to have conversations about suicide which will also break down stigma. This means the use of language is very important, this image from Mindframe helps explain:

Based on Mindframe. Please also consider reading Samaritans media guidelines for further information on communicating.

This chat will be talking about suicide to raise awareness of suicide prevention and the role AHPs can play in this. We recognise that this is likely to be a very emotional and possibly triggering topic for some. If you feel this may be a distressing topic, you can mute @weahps during the chat, and seek help from family, friends or support organisations. If you need to talk to someone, you can follow this link to find a helpline in your country. The same website has information if you are concerned about someone else.  The Samaritans website also has a range of information, including how to start a difficult conversation, or what to do if you’re concerned about a friend on Facebook. Other resources that may be useful if you are or supporting someone who is distressed are Staying safe if you’re not sure life’s worth living and U Can Cope film & resources.

Questions to Think About Before the Chat:

How do you imagine someone with a mental health problem?

How would you know someone (patient, colleague, friend, or stranger) was considering ending their life?

At what point does suicide prevention start?

What evidence do you know about suicide prevention?

What is your profession’s role in suicide prevention?

Caring for other people can often be quite draining. How do you look after your own mental wellbeing?

What action (big or small) can you do to help reach out to all people?