“No one of any age living in Dorset will reach the point where they feel or believe that they have no other choice but to attempt suicide or to end their life by suicide.”

The overriding ambition of the strategy is to prevent any death by suicide. The intention is to achieve zero-suicides – our motivation is that suicide is preventable.

This will be achieved by compassionately and consistently providing information, advice and support based on the identified needs, trends and themes emerging from real time surveillance data, and from then on work, to ensure that people in Dorset have the right support to enable them to make different choices.

Our strategy covers six workstreams:

  • Realtime data – Develop and use real time surveillance (RTS) data about deaths by suicide and attempted suicides to inform the strategy and local responses.

  • Lived experiences – Support the development of a group of people, including young people, who have lived experience related to the impact of suicide or attempted suicide. The group will advise, recommend and support any developments linked to the prevention strategy.

  • Community development – Develop the Voluntary Community Social Enterprise partnership group to extend the delivery reach of the strategy and build resilience in local communities.

  • Bereavement support – Develop a bereavement offer for people who have experienced the loss of someone through suicide (also included is the complicated loss linked to COVID-19).

  • Training and development – Develop a rolling programme of suicide prevention training aimed wherever needed as information comes in through the RTS.

  • Communications and media – Develop local campaigns aimed at suicide prevention in Dorset in both rural and urban areas.

It’s time to create the new norm by asking people to step forward, show their strength and start talking about mental health.