Suicide prevention in the workplace

Suicide prevention in the workplace

Free Online Sessions and Resource Hub.

A programme of activity and support

As part of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Suicide Prevention Programme the Public Health Team at Worcestershire County Council have designed and developed a programme of activity in workplaces across the footprint to encourage and support employers and employees to raise awareness about suicide prevention and create opportunities for early intervention.

This involves:

  • reducing stigma around mental health in the workplace and promote help seeking behaviour
  • increasing awareness of support available, specifically within high-risk industries
  • embedding suicide prevention within company culture
  • increasing the number of suicide prevention conversations at work
  • promoting the use of tools and resources to help maintain good emotional wellbeing

Poor mental health costs UK employers up to £45 billion each year (Deloitte, 2020), meaning that mental health problems cost £1,300 for every employee in the UK economy (Centre for Mental Health). For every £1 spent by employers on mental health interventions they get £5 back in reduced absence, presenteeism and staff turnover (Deloitte, 2020). Suicide is the leading cause of death in England in adults below the age of 50, and past research shows that some occupations are at particularly high risk.

We are a business in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. How do we get involved?

We run free online awareness sessions for businesses.

We have some new dates taking place between September 2024 and July 2025 and would welcome any business or company to get involved, see the below documents for further details:

Suicide Prevention in the Workplace - Construction (PDF)

Suicide Prevention in the Workplace - Manufacturing (PDF) 

Suicide Prevention in the Workplace - Motoring (PDF)

Wellness Action Plans and Suicide Safety Plans

Wellness Action Plans

Wellness Actions Plans (WAPs) are an easy, practical way of helping you to support your own mental health at work and, if you are a manager, helping you to support the mental health of your team members.

Everyone can complete a Wellness Action Plan, you don't need to have a mental health problem in order to feel the benefits. It just means that you already have practical steps in place to ensure you are supported when you aren't feeling great.

MIND have three guides available which you can fill in electronically:

  • a guide for line managers is for managers or supervisors who are interested in introducing WAPs to their team members.
  • a guide for employees is for any member of staff who would like to try a WAP for themselves and introduce the idea of using WAPs to their manager or supervisor.
  • a working from home WAP is designed to support staff with their mental health and wellbeing when working from home

Suicide Safety Plans

A Safety Plan includes what you would do, and who might support you, in a crisis. They might include distraction techniques to help you get through the next seconds or minutes as thoughts of suicide becoming overwhelming, how you can make your immediate environment or situation safer, who you can contact when things get really tough, and what you can do in an emergency.

Safety Plans take a stepped approach. They can help us manage those fleeting thoughts of suicide that emerge at the edge of your mind – through to situations where the desire to die becomes so overwhelming we no longer think we can keep yourself safe.

Staying Safe | from suicidal thoughts

Safety Planning - Every Life Matters

Podcasts

General

Agriculture specific

1) Ben Andrews - Bench Talk with Jo Hilditch

This podcast celebrates the lives of extraordinary ordinary people. Ben Andrews is a mixed crop tenant farmer who farms near Leominster in Herefordshire (he also happens to be gay); just like I’m a farmer (and happen to be a woman).  It is not your sex or sexuality that should define you in any industry but farming is a particularly traditional environment, not least in such an un-diverse county as Herefordshire.  We discuss this, as well as farming, food waste, food prices and his efforts to raise awareness and platform LGBT + in the farming community through social media and a signposting website.  As ever I ask Ben to highlight his top tourism tips for Herefordshire – the outdoor life is unsurprisingly becoming something of a theme. Today our bench is a flat roll (farming equipment, not a small loaf of unrisen bread) in the corner of his farmyard.  Birds in the trees and the rumble of tractors and vehicles make up the background noise.

2) Sam Stables - Bench Talk with Jo Hilditch

Sam Stables and his wife Emily live at the top of Callow Hill at Aconbury. Sam is one of life’s great enthusiasts although life has not always been plain sailing for him. After a difficult childhood and early challenging times Sam ended up in Herefordshire, where he and Emily have put down their roots with their two young children. Following his own very hard mental health difficulties they have started up a charity We Are Farming Minds. This is a mental health charity started by farmers for farmers that aims to challenge and change the overwhelming statistics relating to suicide and mental health in the farming community. Sam talks about his own attempt at suicide, how it might have been prevented and how he would like to help prevent other farmers following the slippery mental health descent. On average in the UK, one farmer per week takes his own life which is a terrible statistic that We Are Farming Minds hopes to ameliorate. Listen to this engaging young man talk about his journey so far, and how his determination and resilience are pushing through. Our bench today is next to their glamping caravans at Kings Pitt Farms with views across glorious Herefordshire countryside

Videos

Agriculture 

CALM

Construction 

Movember

Papyrus

Samaritans

Time to Change Herefordshire & Worcestershire Health & Care NHS

Other awareness videos

Workplace Guidance Documents

Suicide Prevention Training Options

There is a range of training to suit your needs from free awareness training, half day, one day or two full days training. Take a look at our acting together to prevent suicide training page.

You can also download our training document below which details all the range of training programmes available.

Download: A Guide to Suicide Prevention Training (PDF)

Suicide Prevention Policy Template

Take a look at our suicide prevention policy template (Word)

Useful links

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