Suicide prevention strategy and action plan drafts: consultation

Introduction

The Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) will publish a new Suicide prevention Strategy and Action Plan in September 2022. This will replace the current Suicide Prevention Action Plan: Every Life Matters^[1] which was published in 2018.

Every Life Matters sets out ten actions which are driven by the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG)^[2]. The Plan continues to deliver a wide range of actions, including: campaigns to reduce stigma and promote suicide awareness (with a focus on reaching groups with a higher risk of suicide), improving suicide prevention skills of the workforce; ensuring effective, compassionate support to anyone in crisis, supporting local suicide prevention, planning and designing new services for people in suicidal crisis and following a bereavement.

Good work is already happening across Scotland – nationally and locally – to prevent suicide, and the new Strategy and Action Plan will build on that foundation, whilst being ambitious and going further than before, to ensure fewer lives in Scotland are lost to suicide.