The impact of suicide and how practices can best support their staff

Employers can play a huge role in preventing suicide as well as dealing with postventative measures  

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on NHS Employers

The rates of deaths by suicide are climbing across the world. According to the World Health Organisation, over 700,000 people take their own life each year – that’s one person every 40 seconds – and suicide does not discriminate; it affects NHS staff in the following ways:

• Doctors are twice as likely to take their own lives compared with people working in other professions.

• Nurses are four times as likely to take their own lives as people working in any other profession in the UK.
• Female nurses are more likely to take their own lives than their male counterparts.

According to Champion Health the current cost of living crisis has increased financial pressures on staff, and employees experiencing financial stress have been found to be twice as likely to experience thoughts of suicide or self-harm. However, suicide is preventable and employers play a crucial role in suicide prevention. People in work spend about one third of their lives at their place of employment, so colleagues and line managers can provide an important social and emotional support network, built on shared experiences.

Postvention

It is vital that employers include a suicide postvention strategy alongside a strong organisational suicide prevention strategy, in their management of the crisis, supporting those staff affected by suicide and experiencing trauma, as well as those experiencing bereavement due to death by suicide of a colleague or loved one. The NHS Confederation, NHS Employers, NHS England and Samaritans have developed a new postvention toolkit, aimed at helping NHS organisations develop a process for managing the impact of an employee suicide on colleagues.

This practical toolkit provides an overview of how you might roll out a postvention process in your own workplace, and is particularly useful for staff in human resources, occupational health and health and wellbeing roles. Practices can actively address the issue of suicide in a range of ways.

• Appoint mental health champions: mental health champions in your organisation will ensure there is a first line of support and signposting available for your staff. Having a supportive conversation at the right time can often prevent a tragic loss. Ensuring that the knowledge and experience of your champions are up-to-date, and they are confident to face potentially difficult scenarios, can help ensure an effective service. You can raise their profiles by embedding them into the employee induction process and enabling them to take part in staff network conversations – it’s important that staff are aware of who they can contact if they need support.

• Upskill your line managers: ensure your line managers have the right training and skills to spot signs of suicidal thoughts and effectively signpost to appropriate avenues and support the mental health of your staff. Encouraging compassionate leadership can help staff open up and beat the stigma around mental health conversations at work.