Today the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the registered deaths by suicide for 2023.
The ONS statistics released today are heartbreaking. Deaths by suicide in England and Wales are at their highest level for more than 20 years. Behind every number is someone who felt that ending their life was the only option left available to them.
We’re a national charity, but we have a hub of services in the North East. While the North East no longer has the highest suicide rate in the country, it still rose by over 15% between 2022 and 2023. Elsewhere, rates either stayed the same or increased. It’s devastating to see that no region has seen a decrease in suicides since 2022.
It’s clear that more focus and funding needs to be applied to preventing future suicides. At Everyturn, we know that preventing suicides ultimately means supporting someone to make their life feel more liveable. This means we need to take a broad approach that focuses on people’s whole lives.
Mental health is often approached in a piecemeal way, with social, psychological, and economic factors treated separately. This creates gaps in the care people receive and often means they need to ‘tell their story’ many times to different support organisations.
At Everyturn, and particularly through our crisis support services, we understand that someone’s mental health and what’s going on in their life are deeply interconnected. To improve someone’s mental health, we need to consider everything that’s going on for them, whether it’s financial issues, insecure housing, relationship breakdown, physical ill-health, or social isolation.
These are issues that any of us – all of us – could face in our lives.
We need to rethink how we approach mental health and crisis support, to keep people at the centre of their care and make sure no one feels they are struggling alone. People in crisis need and deserve compassionate, practical support that’s specific to them and their circumstances.
No one should have to struggle alone. We’re here to make sure they don’t.
Getting urgent help
If you don’t think you can keep yourself safe, here are some free, 24/7 contacts for you:
- Call the Samaritans on 116 123
- Text SHOUT to 85258
- Call 111 and choose option 2
- Call 999 or go to A&E
Suicide awareness training
The Zero Suicide Alliance offers an excellent (free) 20-minute training course to give you skills and confidence to help someone who might be considering suicide.
