Building on key areas of the Government’s strategy Preventing Suicide in England, our aim is to bring people together from communities and agencies across the region, to share good practice and learn from each other. Focussing on the interventions that make the most impact, our aim is to develop a learning collaborative, supporting people already working together within local authority areas.
The aim is ambitious – to reduce suicide to zero across the south west by October 2018. We know that this will not be easy, but we have been inspired by the experience of others who have achieved this apparently impossible goal. Through sustained collaborative work, the suicide rate in Detroit (population 200,000) was reduced from 89 per 100,000 (baseline) to 22 per 100,000 (average over years 2-5). In years 9 and 10 there were no suicides at all.
This extraordinary outcome came about as a result of sustained collaborations in local areas, working with those with lived experience alongside subject experts to build on good practice and identify areas for improvement. Work was done across the community, in statutory and voluntary agencies, with community groups, with transport providers, churches, emergency services, and many others. Crucial to the success was the support and facilitation to enable these groups to come together to reflect, learn and plan, building on best practice and best evidence.
We propose to mirror the principles that proved so valuable in Detroit, building on the vast range of knowledge, skills and expertise in local areas, bringing people together to learn from each other and focussing on what works.
We were delighted to launch the Zero Suicide Collaborative on the 8th October 2014 in Exeter, with over 160 people from across the region including people from the emergency services, the RNLI, the police, health workers, voluntary agencies, the Samaritans, members of the public whose lives have been affected by suicide, as well as people who had themselves survived a suicide attempt.