Between 9th May and 10th June 2022 we asked residents about their knowledge of suicide prevention interventions and training available.
89 responses were received, mostly female and white. All those who responded had heard of the Samaritans but much fewer had heard of Papyrus or the Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS). Not many knew what they would say to someone who admitted to wanting to take their own life.
In December 2022 the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board (chaired by the Mayor) agreed the strategy and the action plan and work will begin to deliver against the aims set out in the strategy. Both the strategy and action plan can be found below.
Lewisham Council works across a range of services to support the health and wellbeing of its community. An important part of this is to prevent people harming themselves, including taking their own life.
Our Public Health team has a strategy and action plan in place with that aim, but we don’t know if there is more we could do to help. Are people in our community sufficiently aware of the support available if they – or someone they know – are considering taking their own life? Do people know how others act when a friend, acquaintance or family member is at risk of suicide? These are just two of the questions we have asked ourselves. Building a better understanding will help us to do all we can to help.
If this survey raises distressing issues for you, please contact Samaritans on: 116 123.
By completing our survey, you will be helping us to serve our community better by improving our work to prevent suicide.
You don’t have to have experienced thoughts about taking your own life – or be close to someone who has – to make a valuable contribution to our research. We are looking for feedback from everyone that lives in Lewisham. The greater the number of people who participate in our survey, the more accurate a picture we can build about current levels of awareness of support services. This will mean we can take steps that will make a real difference to people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Your responses will be reviewed and analysed and findings will help inform the suicide prevention strategy and action plan.
Share
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook