This UN-led briefing note summarizes key mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) considerations in relation to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The brief was last updated February 2020.
Addressing Mental Health and Psychosocial Aspects of COVID-19 Outbreak
The Suicide Prevention National Transformation Programme has been established in response to a national commitment to reduce deaths by suicide by 10%, by 2020/21. Additional funding has been allocated to eight Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) that have a high level of need, to support local plans.
Suicide Prevention National Transformation Programme
This toolkit has been developed by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) from the NICE Quality Standard (QS34) covering the initial management of self-harm and the provision of longer-term support for children and young people (aged 8 to 18) and adults (aged 18+) who self-harm.
Health Education England (HEE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) have launched a series of self-harm and suicide prevention frameworks.
The competency frameworks describe activities that need to be brought together to support people who self-harm and/or are suicidal.
The frameworks, which have a range of applications, overlap in terms of their content, but help describe the work that is required within different populations and contexts.
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| Working with children and young people | Working with adults and older people |
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| Working with the public | Service users and carers |
Universities UK and PAPYRUS, the UK’s national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide, have published guidance to help university leaders prevent student suicides. At least 95 university students took their own lives in the 2016–17 academic year. This guide provides a framework to understand student suicide, mitigate risk, intervene when students get into difficulties, and respond to these tragic deaths. It sets out the steps you can take to make your community suicide-safer
Public Health England worked alongside the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to launch NICE’s new guidelines for suicide prevention in community and custodial settings. The guidelines cover ways to reduce suicide and help people bereaved or affected by suicide. It aims to:
On average, more than 6,000 individuals take their own lives by suicide each year across the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI). Some of these deaths attract media attention. Suicide is a complex topic and presents a distinct set of challenges for the journalists who report on it. They have to balance a range of factors including what is in the public interest and the risk of encouraging imitative behaviour. At the same time they must guard against intrusion into the grief and shock of the bereaved while considering industry regulation and codes of practice.
Media guidelines for reporting suicide
PAPYRUS has developed a guide to support teachers and school staff in building suicide-safer schools. The guide, which is downloadable on their webpage, provides school staff with an understanding of the most effective strategies to implement to create a suicide-safer environment. The material in the guide is designed for secondary school and college teachers and staff, but can be adapted for younger children too.
Building Suicide-Safer Schools and Colleges – downloadable for free on the PAPYRUS website
Business in the Community has partnered with Public Health England to produce an online interconnected suite of toolkits to help every organisation support the mental and physical health and wellbeing of its employees. They are designed to help employers take positive actions to build a culture that champions good mental and physical health and provide a greater understanding of how to help those who need more support.
Business in the Community has partnered with Public Health England to produce an online interconnected suite of toolkits to help every organisation support the mental and physical health and wellbeing of its employees.
RCN and PHE guidance for health professionals looking to increase their skills and knowledge of suicide prevention strategies with trans young people.
PHE guidance for those with responsibility for suicide prevention in local authorities and their partner agencies. It has been developed to help them contribute to the delivery of the national suicide prevention strategy for England, in particular area 3 of the strategy, ‘Reduce access to the means of suicide’.
