Go on, say it. Say 鈥渟uicide鈥�, and you just might save someone鈥檚 life, not push them to end it.
The move to destigmatise the word is central to a 鈥渮ero suicides鈥� campaign, , to cut deaths in people treated by the country鈥檚 National Health Service.
In 2012, the was 11.6聽deaths per 100,000 people.
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The goal is to emulate the impressive results from an , Michigan, by the Henry Ford Health System. Within four years of the programme launching in 2001, suicides dropped 75 per cent, from 89 to 22 patients per 100,000 of the population covered. In 2008 and 2009 there were no suicides at all.
One factor in Detroit鈥檚 success has been the strategy of openly talking about suicide at all stages of a person鈥檚 mental illness, says Sarah Hughes of UK charity MIND, which since September has run .
Don鈥檛 avoid the subject
鈥淭he assumption has always been that if you mention suicide, people will do it, but the Detroit model shows the complete opposite,鈥� she says.
鈥淚f you ask people about it and point out that if they don鈥檛 get treatment or help they may die through suicide or deterioration of health, you鈥檙e showing them that someone cares about them and wants to help them live.鈥�
Hughes says that MIND鈥檚 Cambridgeshire pilot has three main components: publicity campaigns in which individuals and organisations ; training for health professionals, family doctors and emergency services in how to broach the subject; and improved access to help. About three-quarters of the 6000 or so people who take their own lives every year in the UK haven鈥檛 been in contact with mental health services for at least a year.
Hughes says that she and her colleagues are still collecting data on how well the pilot programme has worked since it was launched, but says that anecdotally, lives have already been saved. 鈥淚t shows there are things you can do that don鈥檛 cost the earth, but can make a huge difference,鈥� says Hughes. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 every expectation this will be cascaded nationally.鈥�
