Scottish Government: Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013 – 2016
The Scottish Government’s strategy to reduce suicide focuses on 5 key themes of work in communities and in services with 11 commitments to continue the downward trend in suicides and contribute to the delivery of the National Outcome to enable people to live longer, healthier lives.
The key themes are:
- A Responding to people in distress
- B Talking about suicide
- C Improving the NHS response to suicide
- D Developing the evidence base
- E Supporting change and improvement
The strategy marks another milestone in the progressive story of suicide prevention in Scotland. It continues the trend in previous strategies to focus on where the evidence leads. It echoes key messages – learned from practice and research – that suicide is preventable, that it is everyone’s business and that collaborative working is key to successful suicide prevention.
National leadership by the Scottish Government on reducing suicide – supported by NHS Health Scotland – together with the retention of local Choose Life coordinators, will provide support and direction for national and local work.
