£705,000 funding will help develop suicide prevention programme in Devon
As a result of the pandemic, there's been an increase in common mental health problems across the county
Councillors on the Health and Wellbeing Board have been discussing the progress report on Devon County Council’s Devon Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2021-2022.
While the latest data for 2020 doesn't show any significant rise in suicides across Devon, the rate has been rising since 2018.
Under the previous plan, which was launched in 2018, 2,700 people in Devon were trained in how to recognise the signs, and how to access specialised help.
Devon Public Health and Devon Highways also worked with a wide partnership to reduce the number of incidents at a location in North Devon from 24 in 2019 to 3 in 2020.
The Suicide Bereavement Service is commissioned to include the STP area of Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay.
In response to the recent plan 400 people from 60 agencies across Devon have received training in ‘Understanding Grief’, ‘Suicide awareness’ and ‘Suicide Bereavement ’.
£705,000 has also been awarded by NHS England to develop the programme across the area.
The additional money will be used to support the Devon Action Plan and a range of projects including community initiatives and training non-clinical staff who work with high risk groups and bystanders.
Other projects include the production of an interactive map to help identify high frequency locations, and an online hub which will provide information, resources, and information for bereaved families on where to get support. This is because being bereaved by suicide can increase the risk of a person ending their own life.
The plan has been drawn up in partnership with the police, health and mental health providers, the voluntary and community sectors, Network Rail, Highways England, The Samaritans, the Devon Prisons Service and Exeter University.
Suicide prevention and support for those bereaved by suicide remains a priority for Public Health