Action call from health bosses amidst rising Calderdale suicide rates

According to the Office for National Statistics, Calderdale’s suicide rate is above the national average rising from 15.6 per 100,000 people between 2018 and 2020 to 16.9 between 2019 and 2021.

The England average is 10.4 per 100,000 people.

In the countdown to World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP) has launched its suicide prevention champions campaign, urging everyone to sign up and pledge their support to an ambition to lower the suicide rate for West Yorkshire.

The campaign aims to recruit a growing cohort of champions to take an active role in challenging stigma and raising awareness to help create a world where fewer people die by suicide.

Champions can access all the latest suicide prevention news, resources, support services and information so they can help spread the word and encourage suicide prevention action in their home, communities and workplaces across West Yorkshire and beyond.

Becoming a suicide prevention champion takes minutes, signing up via an online form, and involves watching a 20-minute suicide awareness video, by the Zero Suicide Alliance, and making a pledge – big or small – about how you plan to promote suicide prevention and challenge stigma of suicide.

The partnership has set itself the ambition of recruiting 281 suicide prevention champions by the end of the year – one for each of the 281 people whose deaths were registered as suicides in West Yorkshire coroners’ courts in 2021.

Richard James, acting consultant in public health and lead for WY HCP’s suicide prevention programme, said: “We need everyone’s help in reducing suicides.

“We want all citizens of West Yorkshire to know that they can do something to change the status quo, even if this is as simple as putting up a poster at work.

“We know that if thousands of people across West Yorkshire make a small change, collectively we can bring our suicide rate down.

“Suicide deaths are preventable deaths and you never know when you might have the opportunity to step in, and say something which just might save a life.”

Rob Webster CEO for NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and CEO Lead for WY HCP lost his 32-year-old brother to suicide in 2003.

He was the first West Yorkshire suicide prevention champion to sign up.

“This is an important campaign and I would urge all to consider signing up,” he said.

“Now is the time to act on this issue – we can all make a difference by becoming a suicide prevention champion and tackling the stigma.

"By doing the Zero Suicide Alliance training and feeling confident to have those conversations and knowing where to send someone who does need support, you will be helping to save lives.

“We know that every person lost to suicide impacts many others and that impact lasts forever. It certainly is the case for me and my family."