Scottish Government: Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013 - 2016

Introduction

This strategy sets out the actions the Scottish Government will take to prevent and reduce suicide in Scotland. It outlines our progress and identifies areas for further attention. Experience and research tell us that we need to act in a number of areas in order to reduce suicide and deliver better outcomes for people contemplating suicide. The strategy seeks to improve our engagement with people in distress, to change the way we talk about suicide in Scotland, and to support improvements in how the NHS responds to people who are suicidal.

As in previous documents,^[2] we use the following definitions:

Suicide is death resulting from an intentional, self-inflicted act.

Suicidal behaviour comprises both death by suicide and acts of self-harm that do not have a fatal outcome, but which have suicidal intent.

Self-harm is self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the apparent purpose of the act (excluding accidents, substance misuse and eating disorders).

Information on sources of support for people who may be at risk of suicide or self-harm is provided in Annex 1.