Consultation ends: 30/01/09

The Welsh Assembly Government is consulting on its draft action plan to reduce suicide and self-harm.

The plan establishes a number of new initiatives and pulls together existing programmes to provide a strategic approach to suicide prevention in Wales.

Statistics show that almost three-quarters of people in Wales who complete suicide are unknown to mental health services in the year prior to their death.

Key aims include raising awareness of mental health issues across wider society and delivering earlier help for those most at risk.

New initiatives include:

• rolling out a training programme for frontline workers across Wales, to give staff in sectors including health, education, job centres, the police and the prison service the skills to recognise the signs of mental distress and enable them to provide or signpost support;
• extending a specialist internationally-recognised training programme across Wales to train carers in preventing the immediate risk of suicide;
• providing an all-Wales 24-hour, seven-days-a-week telephone and text messaging service to support those experiencing mental health problems;
• establishing the first national Samaritans co-ordinator for Wales to manage voluntary services across Wales; and,
• working with lottery-funded programmes providing more help for hard-to-reach, at-risk groups, such as outreach programmes for rough sleepers and homeless people.

The action plan can be downloaded from the Welsh Assembly Government website.