Northampton-based mental health charity “welcomes” Government suicide strategy

Dr Sanjith Kamath, from St Andrew’s Healthcare on Billing Road, has responded to the plan - the first prevention strategy in more than a decade - which is being rolled out across England.

Dr Kamath said that while he is “pleased to see the strategy has been informed by those with living experience of mental ill health” in order for the strategy to be successful “it needs the correct funding put behind it”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2022 there were 5,275 suicides in England, which is equivalent to 10.6 suicides per 100,000 people. Self-harm rates have also been rising among children and young people.

The Government has pledged more support for bespoke services to help middle-aged men, who are at a higher risk of suicide, with crisis text lines to be rolled out in all areas of England.

Dr Kamath said: “Mental health services have faced decades of underfunding in comparison to physical health, and this disparity has meant that vital services have been stretched and research into mental health has been left behind.

“It is vital that there’s more research into self-harm and deaths from suicide, particularly around the epidemiology, causes, clinical management, outcome and prevention. As a society we must tackle mental health inequalities and ensure everyone has easy access to support as soon as they need it, and not just at crisis point.”

The Department for Education (DfE) will examine whether suicide and self-harm prevention should be part of the school curriculum and the Government has said half of schools in England will have mental health support teams in place by April 2025.

Additionally, the DfE will also offer all state schools and colleges funding to train a senior mental health lead by 2025.

St Andrew’s is already providing mental health education in schools with its award-wining Mental Wellness Programme for Schools, Lightbulb.

The initiative has so far helped more than 30,000 children, teachers, carers and parents across 50 schools.

It involves the LightBulb team delivering mental health sessions, helping the children to identify their feelings and showing the adults in their lives some of the early signs to watch out for.

LightBulb founder and Headteacher of the St Andrew’s Healthcare Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) College Cheryl Smith, said: “The LightBulb programme provides schools with an opportunity to build a culture of mental health support for their students and staff.

“Much of our LightBulb teaching is based around trauma informed care, which is the approach that our clinical colleagues adopt when treating our CAMHS patients. Trauma can impact a child’s emotional development which means you need to find out what age that young person’s emotional maturity is at, and then tailor your approach to fit.

“We also encourage schools to rip up the rulebook and instead of focussing on results, we suggest they focus on the process and progress of each child, which can look very different for each individual.”

Dr Kamath added: “It’s encouraging there is a plan for education in the strategy, but we would like to see this put into action. Programmes, such as LightBulb, are key in terms of educating children about their thoughts and feelings, which in turn can reduce self-harm and suicide rates.

“In addition to education, we would also like to see more mental health support available in the community so people do not have to go to hospital miles from their homes just to receive the right care, support and treatment.

“That’s why our own 5-year strategy outlines our plans to provide more community support, but we can’t do it alone. We need to ensure there’s sufficient funding and improved partnership working between physical healthcare, mental healthcare and social care. Suicide is complex but entirely preventable.”