Suicide prevention and self-harm

Suicide prevention

For anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts

• Mind: How to cope with suicidal feelings booklet – Explains what suicidal feelings are, why they happen and how to cope both immediately and in the long-term.
• Stay Alive App – Signposting to emergency or support services, tools to help individuals stay safe during crisis and self-care strategies.

For anyone supporting someone experiencing suicidal thoughts

• Mind: How to support someone who feels suicidal booklet – Practical suggestions on how to help and where to seek support.

For anyone who has witnessed a suicide

• First Hand – Understanding and coping with emotions after witnessing a suicide.
• Taking care of yourselves after witnessing something traumatic

For anyone experiencing suicide bereavement

• Help is at hand guide – Provides emotional and practical support after losing someone to suicide.

For anyone experiencing bereavement

• Havering Bereavement and Counselling Directory
• The Good Grief Trust – Charity run by bereaved people, offering grief-related information and providing a map of UK bereavement services.

Other helpful links

• The National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) – A collective of public, private and voluntary organisations in England who are dedicated to suicide prevention.
• Talking faith in suicide prevention – A FaithAction resource supporting faith-based conversations on suicide prevention.
• Autistica and National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) – Helps mental health professionals support young autistic individuals in crisis. 

Self-harm

General information

• “The Truth About Self-Harm” – Covers self-harm, eating disorders, death or bereavement, personality disorders, anxiety, depression and substance abuse. 

For adults engaging in self-harm

• Finding your voice: Talking about self-injury
• Distraction Techniques and Alternative Coping Strategies
• Reaching out for help: Talking About Ongoing Self-Injury
• Recovering from Self-Injury

For children and young people engaging in self-harm

• Alumina - A free 7-week online course for young people struggling with self-harm with trained counsellors and youth workers. Anonymous participation via chat box.
• The Mix - Support for young people. Connects young people to experts and peers to talk everything from money to mental health.
• Kooth – Free online mental health support, including counselling, articles, discussion boards and goal-setting tools.
• Asking for help mental health resource for young people – Practical guidance on taking the first steps towards support.
• Calm Harm – Designed to help individuals resist or manage the urge to self-harm. Recommended for ages 13-19.
• DistrACT App – Provides quick, easy and discreet access to information and advice on self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Recommended for ages 11+.
• Tellmi – Fully moderated app offering resources and a supportive community where users can share their problems, seek help and support others. Recommended for ages 11+. 

For parents of children engaging in self-harm

• Coping with self-harm: advice for parents and carers
• Parents A-Z Mental Health Guide
• HealthTalk – Real stories from parents of young people who self-harm.
• Charlie Waller Trust videos - Video guidance for parents of self-harming children. 

For education staff of pupils engaging in self-harm

• Young People Who Self-Harm: A Guide for School Staff
• Mentally Healthy Schools – An online hub with resources on self-harm awareness and student support.

Support and wellbeing resources for people from racialised communities

• Aashna – Community of therapists and clients of LGBTQIA+, global majority (collective term for people of Indigenous, African, Asian, and Latina descent), visible and non-visible disability, neurodivergent, working class and care experienced communities.
• Bayo — A space to find collectives, organisations and services from across the UK that offer mental health and wellbeing support to the Black community.
• Black, African and Asian Therapy Network — Provides lists of therapists from Black, African, Asian and Caribbean heritage in the UK.
• Black Minds Matter — Resources for Black people around mental health, including where to find culturally appropriate therapy.
• Mindfulness Network for People of Colour — Community nterest Company that helps people work though racialised trauma. They provide resources, grief spaces, grief retreats, and online courses.
• Muslim Community Helpline — Confidential, non-judgemental listening and emotional support services for people from Muslim communities.
• Sehhat — Tailored, accessible, and relevant resources for the Punjabi community.
• Southeast and East Asian Centre — Offers mental health support to people of Southeast and East Asian heritage in the UK.
• Spark and Co — Community Interest Company dedicated to racialised people and communities.

Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) encourages frontline staff and volunteers to find time in their everyday interactions as opportunities to support Havering residents in improving their health and wellbeing.

It’s about having brief but meaningful conversations that can help individuals think about and address issues affecting their overall wellbeing and take steps towards positive change.

By directing people to appropriate services, MECC helps maximise the impact of available resources and support systems.

We’ve developed a series of factsheets to support this approach relating to suicide prevention.

These are primarily designed for Havering’s frontline staff and volunteers.

• Preventing Suicide Factsheet
• Self-Harm Factsheet
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Factsheet
• Children and Young People’s Mental Wellbeing Factsheet
• Bereavement Support Factsheet
• Perinatal Mental Health Factsheet

Safety plans

• Make a Safety Plan – A tool for helping someone navigate suicidal feelings and/or self-harm urges.

If you find any of links to resources are out of date, please email publichealth@havering.gov.uk.