PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide

PAPYRUS runs a professionally-staffed helpline called HOPELineUK which runs 24/7 all year round for young persons at risk and those who are worried about a young suicidal person they may know.

PAPYRUS has led a campaign for many years on reducing access to information online which may lead to suicide. We also provide training which includes disabling young people’s suicide plans.

PAPYRUS is a member of the suicide bereavement support partnership and brings to it experience of working with many who have been touched by a young suicide. PAPYRUS also provides opportunities for those bereaved by suicide to prevent future deaths by becoming involved in the work of the charity.

PAPYRUS provides a suite of training opportunities focused on awareness, prevention and intervention skills.

PAPYRUS plays an active part in a number of national collaboratives, working together with partners to reduce suicide numbers.

PAPYRUS is a campaigning organisation, rooted in the experiences of its members and supporters who believe that many young suicides may be prevented.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

PAPYRUS recognises that children and young people are among the higher risk groups in England when it comes to suicide. As many of our members have been touched personally by a young suicide, we do all we can to raise awareness and mitigate risk of suicide among the under 35s.

PAPYRUS runs a professionally-staffed helpline called HOPELineUK for young persons at risk and those who are worried about a young suicidal person they may know.

PAPYRUS has led a campaign for many years on reducing access to information online which may lead to suicide. We also provide training which includes disabling young people’s suicide plans.

PAPYRUS is a member of the suicide bereavement support partnership and brings to it experience of working with many who have been touched by a young suicide. PAPYRUS also provides opportunities for those bereaved by suicide to prevent future deaths by becoming involved in the work of the charity.

PAPYRUS provides a suite of training opportunities focused on awareness, prevention and intervention skills.

PAPYRUS plays an active part in a number of national collaboratives, working together with partners to reduce suicide numbers.

PAPYRUS is a campaigning organisation, rooted in the experiences of its members and supporters who believe that many young suicides may be prevented.

What are your current priorities?

Press for the Burden of Proof used by Coroners in reaching a suicide conclusion at inquest to be changed to that of the civil standard.

PAPYRUS has led the charge on this front since the appointment of the first Chief Coroner. Having garnered his support and that of the NSPA< NSPSAG and various other key stakeholders, we believe the Ministry of Justice must now move to change the current position which maintains the use of the criminal standard. This not only perpetuates stigma but is, in our view, a failure to recognise the decriminalisation of suicide which took place when the 1961 Suicide Act passed into law.

Continue to press for regulation of internet sites which encourage suicide or give information on suicide method.

PAPYRUS is determined to continue to press for regulation of the internet when it comes to young people and others who are vulnerable to suicide being given access to information and, indeed, material resources which can lead to their suicide.

Deliver training in suicide awareness, prevention and applied suicide intervention skills.

PAPYRUS offers a range of packages to schools, colleges, universities, young offender institutions, prisons, community organisations, the NHS and others. We will continue to deliver this training to help equip people across all walks of life with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to prevent suicide and to help keep safe many more young people at risk.

Provide professional advice, information and support to young people at risk of suicide and those worried about such a young person.

PAPYRUS is committed to working directly with those who are struggling to cope with life in their formative years, as well as with those who care for and support them. Staffed by professionals trained in suicide intervention,the HOPELineUK service is open 10am-10pm daily and 2-5pm at weekends, offering practical information, advice and support through telephone, text and email to young people at risk of suicide as well as to parents, friends, families, professionals and others who are concerned about a young person they know who may be experiencing suicide ideation.

Press HM Government and the main political parties to prioritise suicide prevention in their plans in the run up to the General Election

Manifesto commitments are due to be made in the run up t o the General Election 2015. PAPYRUS is keen that the parties declare their intentions with regard to suicide prevention and the fulfilment of the national outcomes strategy (England) set out in September 2012. We will be asking all major party leaders to declare these intentions. We will then publicise these.

Ensure that the personal experiences of those bereaved by suicide are heard through our campaigning and other activities.

PAPYRUS is a membership charity, many of whose members and supporters are active in suicide prevention following their own personal experience of a young suicide. Their voices being heard at the heart of our campaigns, our work with media and others ensures that awareness is raised, stigma is reduced and lives are saved. Through our regional development work, we are able to meet with and engage people from across the community; among these, the voice of those who have been touched personally by suicide remains a key component.

Develop our work in the regions through community engagement.

PAPYRUS has always attracted people from across the country. Many of our members and supporters wish to engage in practical ways in the work of the charity. Starting with our work in the North West and the West Midlands, we hope to learn lessons which enable us to develop new ways of engaging others in the work of preventing young suicides, through education and training, involvement in our campaigns, listening and learning from different community leaders and working to tackle stigma across cultural and ethnic boundaries.

Continue to monitor reporting of young suicide and related matters in media.

PAPYRUS supports sensitive media reporting of and coverage of young suicide and other suicide-related stories which may impact or influence young people. We work in a collaborative way with press and broadcast media to uphold the WHO media guidelines on reporting of suicide.

Pressing for the Consensus Statement on Medical Confidentiality to be rolled out and become standard practice among medics across the UK.

PAPYRUS members have often discovered on the death of their young family member to suicide that their doctor had information which, had it been shared wit them, could have helped them to reduce risk at home for their young person. In welcoming the recent Consensus Statement, PAPYRUS is keen to see improved information sharing and inclusion, where possible, of family in young people’s care plans. We will press the Royal Colleges to ensure that the statement now influences local clinical practice.

Pressing for improved quality and independence in Investigations into SUIs within the NHS.

PAPYRUS members report dissatisfaction with the investigations following the death of a patient in the care of the NHS. We would like to see independent investigations into all patient suicides and that the standard of these is high.

What challenges are you currently facing?

The choice made by government in the extent of resources it provides to the work of suicide prevention is a key factor in the success or failure of the delivery of the NSPA outcomes. Unless suicide prevention is prioritised and properly resourced, suicide will remain as a leading cause of death in England.

In particular we believe that HM Government must invest more resources into better mental health support /services for young people and for those who support them as well as invest more into suicide prevention itself. (PAPYRUS has a particular focus on preventing young suicides.)

Stigma surrounding suicide, suicidal thinking and behaviour and suicide bereavement remains a key barrier to delivery of some of our collective aspirations.