Lambeth Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-2030

Read the council’s strategy to reduce the number of suicides in Lambeth

Priority areas for action

We have adopted the eight priority areas identified by the national strategy. These are:

Improving data and evidence to ensure that effective, evidence-informed and timely interventions continue to be developed and adapted.
Tailored, targeted support to priority groups, including those at higher risk, to ensure there is bespoke action and that interventions are effective and accessible for everyone.
Addressing common risk factors linked to suicide at a population level to provide early intervention and tailored support.
Promoting online safety and responsible media content to reduce harms, improve support and signposting, and provide helpful messages about suicide and self-harm.
Providing effective crisis support across sectors for those who reach crisis point.
Reducing access to means and methods of suicide where this is appropriate and necessary as an intervention to prevent suicides.
Providing effective bereavement support to those affected by suicide.
Making suicide everybody’s business so that we can maximise our collective impact and support to prevent suicides.

Through stakeholder engagement, knowledge of local programmes and reviewing the evidence base, we have identified the following high-risk groups:

Children and young people (in particular, recognising gender disparities in self-harm and suicide in this cohort)
Men (in particular, those aged 45-64)
People in contact with mental health services
People in contact with the justice system
People with Autism
Pregnant women and new mothers
People who have self-harmed
LGBTQ+ communities
People with disabilities
Asylum seekers
People facing financial difficulty and economic adversity
People affected by gambling harms
People who are misusing substances
Domestic abuse survivors

Planned activities to address the eight priority areas and target high-risk groups are set out in the action plan section of the strategy.

We recognise that many groups are at higher risk of suicide. This will be reviewed annually based on the latest available evidence, data, and the ability of stakeholders to support in the delivery of the strategy.

It should also be noted that a number of risk factors for suicide also coincide with risk factors for mental health and wellbeing. A large number of these will be addressed through the upcoming Lambeth Mental Health Promotion Strategy, which will focus on prevention of mental health conditions developing, promotion of mental wellbeing, and addressing inequalities

Action plan

Planned actions for year one of the strategy are described below. These are aligned to the four objectives of the strategy. The action plan will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

Objective 1: Tailor approaches and reduce the risk of suicide in high-risk groups (aligns to Priority Areas for Action 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8)

Planned action:	Leads:
Raise awareness of available mental health crisis support. This includes: Co-developing locally appropriate communication resources with partners and communities and running a communication campaign Ensuring that organisations such as community and faith groups, and local employers have access to a range of communication and signposting resources Ensure that information on what support services to contact in time of crisis is widely disseminated Work with partners to provide engagement events in local spaces e.g. markets, community events	Lambeth Public Health team Council Comms team Lambeth Together Comms team The Listening Place
Provide suicide prevention training for frontline staff and community groups – prioritising staff and organisations supporting the strategy’s priority groups. Specifically: Continue to deliver training to people who live, work or volunteer in the London Borough of Lambeth Promote uptake of Zero Suicide Alliance online training Explore options for effectively delivering targeted training to priority high-risk groups in the borough Share training and signposting information with community groups to build expertise and ensure people get support from places and people they trust Focus on training for frontline staff who work in services where people at higher risk of suicide are more likely to attend e.g. health and care, substance misuse services, emergency departments, gambling support services Share guidance for council staff on what to do if they encounter residents who are feeling suicidal	Lambeth Public Health Team Drug and Alcohol Addiction Services Thriving Community Networks Lambeth Community Engagement and Support team
Reduce the risk of suicide in high-risk groups: Men: Continuing with existing engagement with local men’s voluntary organisations Explore and develop approaches to support the wellbeing of men in the borough by reviewing the existing evidence base, and lessons learned from successful approaches in other boroughs and organisations Young people: Investigate reasons for observed increase in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in this cohort. Co-produce support solutions tailored to this age group People who are vulnerable due to harmful gambling: Explore opportunities to align the council’s approach to harmful gambling with suicide prevention activities. For example, scoping options for working with gambling businesses to provide signposting information to customers. People experiencing financial difficulty and economic adversity: Continue roll out of mental health awareness and signposting training to voluntary sector organisations supporting people most affected by the cost-of-living crisis Pregnant women and young mothers Gather more data and insights to understand who is at highest risk in this group Develop relationships with relevant service providers and community groups who regularly engage with pregnant women and young mothers to identify opportunities for targeted action Liaise with early years commissioners to include suicide prevention in perinatal mental health strategy These higher-risk groups were chosen as the strategic priority for 2025. This is due to alignment with other workstreams which provides a key opportunity to make significant change in suicide prevention for these groups. A number of risk factors for suicide also coincide with risk factors for mental health and wellbeing. The majority of these will be addressed through the upcoming Lambeth Mental Health Promotion Strategy.	Public Health The Listening Place Children Alliance Emotional Wellbeing Group SLaM

Planned action:

Leads:

Raise awareness of available mental health crisis support. This includes:

Co-developing locally appropriate communication resources with partners and communities and running a communication campaign
Ensuring that organisations such as community and faith groups, and local employers have access to a range of communication and signposting resources
Ensure that information on what support services to contact in time of crisis is widely disseminated
Work with partners to provide engagement events in local spaces e.g. markets, community events

Lambeth Public Health team
Council Comms team
Lambeth Together Comms team
The Listening Place

Provide suicide prevention training for frontline staff and community groups – prioritising staff and organisations supporting the strategy’s priority groups. Specifically:

Continue to deliver training to people who live, work or volunteer in the London Borough of Lambeth
Promote uptake of Zero Suicide Alliance online training
Explore options for effectively delivering targeted training to priority high-risk groups in the borough
Share training and signposting information with community groups to build expertise and ensure people get support from places and people they trust
Focus on training for frontline staff who work in services where people at higher risk of suicide are more likely to attend e.g. health and care, substance misuse services, emergency departments, gambling support services
Share guidance for council staff on what to do if they encounter residents who are feeling suicidal

Lambeth Public Health Team
Drug and Alcohol Addiction Services
Thriving Community Networks
Lambeth Community Engagement and Support team

Reduce the risk of suicide in high-risk groups:

Men:

Continuing with existing engagement with local men’s voluntary organisations
Explore and develop approaches to support the wellbeing of men in the borough by reviewing the existing evidence base, and lessons learned from successful approaches in other boroughs and organisations

Young people:

Investigate reasons for observed increase in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in this cohort.
Co-produce support solutions tailored to this age group

People who are vulnerable due to harmful gambling:

Explore opportunities to align the council’s approach to harmful gambling with suicide prevention activities. For example, scoping options for working with gambling businesses to provide signposting information to customers.

People experiencing financial difficulty and economic adversity:

Continue roll out of mental health awareness and signposting training to voluntary sector organisations supporting people most affected by the cost-of-living crisis

Pregnant women and young mothers

Gather more data and insights to understand who is at highest risk in this group
Develop relationships with relevant service providers and community groups who regularly engage with pregnant women and young mothers to identify opportunities for targeted action
Liaise with early years commissioners to include suicide prevention in perinatal mental health strategy

These higher-risk groups were chosen as the strategic priority for 2025. This is due to alignment with other workstreams which provides a key opportunity to make significant change in suicide prevention for these groups.
A number of risk factors for suicide also coincide with risk factors for mental health and wellbeing.
The majority of these will be addressed through the upcoming Lambeth Mental Health Promotion Strategy.

Public Health
The Listening Place
Children Alliance
Emotional Wellbeing Group
SLaM

Objective 2: Provide better information and support to those bereaved or affected by suicide (aligns to Priority Areas for Action 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)

Planned action:	Leads:
Raise awareness of existing support for people bereaved by suicide. This includes Cruse Bereavement services and South East London Suicide Bereavement Service.	SEL Suicide Bereavement Service Cruse Bereavement Lambeth Public Health team Council teams working with communities
Work with Cruse and SEL Suicide Bereavement Service to provide specialist local support to adults bereaved by suicide, including emotional and practical support, through one-to-one and group interventions	Lambeth Public Health Team Cruse Bereavement SEL Suicide Bereavement Service
Work with relevant parts of the system to develop setting/context-specific response plans and resources, including: For schools and universities For workplaces Cluster suicide response plan	Public Health Team

Planned action:

Leads:

Raise awareness of existing support for people bereaved by suicide. This includes Cruse Bereavement services and South East London Suicide Bereavement Service.

SEL Suicide Bereavement Service
Cruse Bereavement
Lambeth Public Health team
Council teams working with communities

Work with Cruse and SEL Suicide Bereavement Service to provide specialist local support to adults bereaved by suicide, including emotional and practical support, through one-to-one and group interventions

Lambeth Public Health Team
Cruse Bereavement
SEL Suicide Bereavement Service

Work with relevant parts of the system to develop setting/context-specific response plans and resources, including:

For schools and universities
For workplaces
Cluster suicide response plan

Public Health Team

Objective 3: Support the media in delivering sensitive approaches to suicide and suicidal behaviour (aligns to Priority Areas for Action 2, 4 and 8)

Planned action:	Leads:
Work with local media and comms to ensure suicide is treated sensibly and appropriately	Council and Lambeth Together Comms teams
Implement locally appropriate communications and media campaigns aimed at normalising talking about mental health to be co-developed with key groups	Council and Lambeth Together Comms teams, with relevant voluntary sector and community groups

Objective 4: Improve research, data collection and monitoring of suicide, suicidal behaviour and self-harm in Lambeth (aligns to Priority Areas for Action 1 and 8)

Planned action:	Leads:
Conduct an audit of meaningful data to improve near time reporting of suicide, attempted suicide and self-harm highlighting prevalence among groups at high risk of suicide and those exposed to suicide risk factors highlighted in this document This will also include the collection of surveillance data on substances used in poisonings and where they were purchased.	Public Health Relevant service providers e.g. SLaM, substance misuse, homeless commissioners, regional safer custody lead (prisons), Youth Justice Service
Gain access to more data on self-harm in the borough in order to: Gain better insight into who is at highest risk of self-harm and their outcomes Develop targeted action for these groups This will be done by mapping what data is currently available and where there are opportunities for further data and information sharing, as well as working with the NHS and partners to determine where there are gaps in our local knowledge.	Public Health Team
Develop a set of indicators to monitor progress against the suicide prevention strategy	Public Health Team
Develop a data dashboard on suicide and self-harm in the borough which will link various data sources, including health and social care, to provide a holistic overview and allow us to monitor progress against the strategy.	Public Health Team

Governance

The combined knowledge, experience and resources of organisations across all sectors is necessary in order to achieve the ambitions of this suicide prevention strategy. The strategy has been developed by the Suicide Prevention Partnership Group, facilitated by Lambeth Public Health Team. This is a multi-agency group composed of representatives from the council, the voluntary and statutory sectors and government bodies.

The strategy continues to be a “live” document, ensuring that evidence is being kept up to date. The strategy will run from 2025-2030, with annual reviews to inform yearly action plans. Progress against the strategy will be reported into Lambeth Staying Healthy Partnership Board, with overall governance resting with the Lambeth Health and Wellbeing Board.

Monitoring and evaluation

The overall aim of this strategy is to contribute to a reduction in the number of people dying by suicide every year. The relatively small number of suicides at local level make it difficult to measure a significant change in rates. However, there are alternative methods of monitoring success in reducing suicide attempts and self-harm, and a key action in the first year of the strategy is to develop a set of indicators to help us track progress.

The Lambeth Public Health team will produce an annual action plan for each year of the strategy. The team will continuously monitor progress against the action plan.