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Open talk about suicide in the UK might prevent it - health - 21 January 2015 - New Scientist@import "/css/gridmain.css"; @import "/css/article.css";@import "/css/comlist.css";@import "/data/images/ns/haas/haas.css";/* specific to this article view */#maincol {border-top:solid #A7A7A7 1px; padding-top:15px;}/* Basic commenting CSS*/.combx {margin:10px 0 0 0;padding:10px 20px 10px 10px;}#compnl {border-top:solid #A7A7A7 1px;}/* comment styles for article page only *//* form styles */#comform {margin:20px 50px 20px 10px;}#comform label{width: 90px;text-align: right;}#comform div.userhelp {margin:0 0 2px 115px;}#comform input.textinput, #comform textarea {width:300px;}#comform div.floatclear, #comformlogin div.floatclear {margin-bottom:10px;}#comform input#comcancel{margin:0 10px 0 0;}#comform input#compreview{margin:0 10px 0 0;}#comform textarea {height:95px;}#comformlogin {margin:20px 100px 20px 100px;}#comformlogin label{width: 120px;}#comformlogin input.textinput {width:150px;}#snv_health a {background: url('/img/bg/snv_health.jpg') no-repeat; color:#fff;}/* article social media */#sharebtns {width:440px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:20px; padding:15px 10px 15px 10px; background:#F2F2F2;}#sharebtns div.floatleft {margin-right:10px;}#sharebtns .stumble {margin-top:1px;}.grpTools img {margin-right:8px; margin-top:9px;}#fblike {margin-top:41px;} dataLayer = [{'visitorType':'None','siteSection':'News','author':'Andy Coghlan','pubDate':'21/01/2015','subject':'health','barrierType':'None'}](function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-B92N');SUBSCRIBE & SAVE 37%MANAGE MY ACCOUNT ?GIVE A GIFT ?New ScientistHealth    Log in

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Open talk about suicide in the UK might prevent it18:06 21 January 2015 byAndy CoghlanFor similar stories, visit theMental HealthTopic GuideGo on, say it. Say "suicide", and you just might save someone's life, not push them to end it.

The move to destigmatise the word is central to a "zero suicides" campaign, launched this week by UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, to cut deaths in people treated by the country's National Health Service.

In 2012, the UK suicide rate was 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people.

The goal is to emulate the impressive results from an anti-suicide programme pioneered in Detroit, Michigan, by the Henry Ford Health System. Within four years of the programme launching in 2001, suicides dropped 75 per cent, from 89 to 22 patients per 100,000 of the population covered. In 2008 and 2009 there were no suicides at all.

One factor in Detroit's success has been the strategy of openly talking about suicide at all stages of a person's mental illness, says Sarah Hughes of UK charity MIND, which since September has run one of three pilot projects in the UK pursuing the zero suicides goal.

Don't avoid the subject "The assumption has always been that if you mention suicide, people will do it, but the Detroit model shows the complete opposite," she says.

"If you ask people about it and point out that if they don't get treatment or help they may die through suicide or deterioration of health, you're showing them that someone cares about them and wants to help them live."

Hughes says that MIND's Cambridgeshire pilot has three main components: publicity campaigns in which individuals and organisations pledge to help potentially suicidal individuals; training for health professionals, family doctors and emergency services in how to broach the subject; and improved access to help. About three-quarters of the 6000 or so people who take their own lives every year in the UK haven't been in contact with mental health services for at least a year.

Hughes says that she and her colleagues are still collecting data on how well the pilot programme has worked since it was launched, but says that anecdotally, lives have already been saved. "It shows there are things you can do that don't cost the earth, but can make a huge difference," says Hughes. "So there's every expectation this will be cascaded nationally."

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