Prioritising Suicide Prevention

Public Health Scotland welcomes the launch of the new Scottish Government and COSLA Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan: 'Creating Hope Together'. The Strategy and Plan, which were published yesterday, provide the opportunity for us all to focus on the most important actions to prevent suicide.

Angela Leitch, Chief Executive, Public Health Scotland, said:

"Public Health Scotland has been an active participant in the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group and applauds the new Suicide Prevention Action Plan. We know that in Scotland, suicide is the leading cause of death among young people so our teams will continue to work with local and national partners to share evidence and intelligence to do all we can to avoid lives being lost by suicide."

If you, or anyone you know, are experiencing thoughts of suicide please:

Call 999 or go to A&E now if you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe.

Contact PAPYRUS HOPELINEUK (external website) - for children and young people under 35 who are having thoughts of suicide or anyone concerned that a young person could be thinking about suicide - call 0800 068 4141, text 07860039967 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org (opened 9am to midnight every day of the year).

Contact Childline (external website) for anyone under 19. Call 0800 1111.

Text “SHOUT” to 85258 to contact Shout Crisis Text Line (external website). Text “YM” if you are under 19. The service is available 24/7.

Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans (external website). They are there to listen 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it’s always free to call from any landline or mobile phone. You can also email: jo@samaritans.org. 

Call 111 to talk to NHS 24’s mental health hub 24/7. (Only available for people living in Scotland).

Call 0800 83 85 87 to talk to Breathing Space (external website). The service is open 24 hours at weekends (6pm Friday to 6am Monday) and 6pm to 2am on weekdays (Monday to Thursday). This is only available for people living in Scotland.