All employers have a responsibility to educate their employees about suicide prevention, including how the language around it has changed, writes Sarah McIntosh.
Last month the Office for National Statistics released data showing suicide rates in England and Wales have reached their highest level since 1999.
This is a stark reminder of the responsibility we all have to prevent suicide in the workplace and wider society.
Conversations about mental health more broadly have come a long way in the past decade with more people than ever openly discussing their experiences of poor mental health. However, the stigma around suicide is still preventing lifesaving conversations happening.
The topic of suicide is a sensitive subject and, while it’s vital it is discussed appropriately in the workplace, there remains a lack of knowledge around the right words and phrases to use.
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Research released by MHFA England ahead of last week’s World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September), showed that two-thirds (66%) of employees were still using harmful terms such as “committed suicide”.
Many people are not aware this is an outdated and damaging expression and stems from a time when suicide was illegal. Its use can signal blame, contributing to stigma. “Died by suicide” is more appropriate to use as it doesn’t have the same negative connotations.
In addition, the research showed only 10% of employees would know that the best way to save the life of someone thinking of suicide is to ask them directly if they are having thoughts of suicide and, if so, to understand whether they have a plan to end their life.
Asking simple, direct questions about suicide can encourage the person you’re speaking with to be honest about how they are feeling and help identify the risk and what to do.
As many as 650 suicides in the UK each year could be work-related – this is approximately 10% of all suicides.
Most of us spend a large amount of our day-to-day life with our colleagues and at work, so employers have an important role in normalising and educating people about how to have conversations about suicide.
Three ways to support those having thoughts of suicide
As an employer, it can be difficult knowing where to start, but there are some important steps you can take to help put plans in place to support those having thoughts of suicide and those impacted by suicide.
1) Lay the foundations within your existing mental health strategy. Lots of organisations are doing important things to support the mental health and wellbeing of their people. Building on an existing wellbeing strategy that supports the needs of your business and people is a great way to embed suicide prevention.
When we create psychologically safe cultures where wellbeing and productivity go hand in hand, we help to create an environment where lifesaving conversations about suicide are more likely to take place.
Lots of things contribute to company culture, but good job design, strong and positive leadership, equitable recognition and reward and proactively taking steps to manage the risks of work stressors, all support the wellbeing of your staff.
2) Encourage conversation about mental health. Even the most progressive organisations still shy away from sharing resources on suicide prevention, which contributes to the persistent stigma around the subject.
It’s not always easy to start a conversation but, for example, MHFA England’s training and resources give people the skills to spot the signs of poor mental health and the knowledge to signpost to professional help.
By encouraging regular conversations about wellbeing through one-to-one check-ins, we can help normalise talking about suicide.
Our free resources such as ‘Suicide. Let’s Talk’ provide advice on how to support someone experiencing suicidal thoughts or behaviour if they reveal this in a one-to-one. This information can help everyone at work feel more comfortable and confident discussing suicide, helping to break the taboo.
Managers also play a key role in creating this open culture, but they need to be given the right tools, training and time to do the job of managing well.
Our research found that most managers recognise it’s part of their role to act on mental health (75%) but many don’t know how to.
A third of managers (33%) feel out of their depth supporting their team with mental health concerns. Providing managers with appropriate training to help them manage their own mental health while supporting others is an important part of building an effective team.
3) Have support in place. Supportive conversations about mental health, and an awareness of suicide prevention, can help tackle the silence and stigma around suicide and encourage people to seek support.
For this to be effective, your people need to know where to signpost colleagues to get the help they need.
The more proactive we are, if we think someone is struggling with their mental health or thoughts of suicide, the more lives can be saved.
Whether it is signposting someone to a mental health first aider, contacting an employee assistance programme or making people aware of external organisations that can help – whatever support is available, make sure people know about it.
If someone is having thoughts of suicide, even if they don’t have a plan to end their life, encourage them to call Samaritans on 116 123, text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258, call Hopeline247 on 0800 068 4141 or call 111, select the mental health option and speak to a trained mental health professional. If someone is at immediate risk of attempting suicide or has harmed themselves, dial 999.
The ripple effect of suicide
It is estimated that for every person who dies by suicide, 135 people are impacted or affected.
In addition, research shows that 38% of people bereaved by suicide will go on to have thoughts of suicide themselves and 9% will go on to act on those thoughts with suicide behaviours. It’s therefore vitally important there are plans in place to support people impacted by suicide.
‘Postvention support’ refers to activities and interventions offered to people affected by suicide. Postvention is a key pillar of suicide prevention planning within an existing wellbeing strategy. There should be a plan in place to respond if the workplace, or an individual in the workplace, is bereaved by suicide. This new guide from SOM may also be helpful in this context.
Support After Suicide Partnership, too, has lots of resources to help support organisations to adopt best practice in suicide bereavement.
No workplace is immune to the impact of suicide and all organisations have a responsibility to ensure appropriate support is in place to prevent lives being lost.
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