Stopping suicide focus of Government’s draft plan

The Government’s new plan for a future with ‘‘no suicide’’ includes a national prevention office, a dedicated bereaved counselling service, and new guidelines for social media.

The draft suicide prevention plan would finally replace a plan scuttled in the lead-up to the 2017 election, which left the sector without clear direction.

It has not been released publicly but Stuff has obtained a copy.

The new strategy and action plan, named Every Life Matters, does not set a hard target for suicide reduction, instead stating: ‘‘We believe that every life matters and by working together, we can achieve a future where there is no suicide.’’

The draft strategy came under fire in the months leading up to the 2017 election, when comedian-turned-advocate Mike King publicly quit a group advising the Ministry of Health on the document, after it was released for further public feedback.

King criticised the draft for not including a suicide reduction target, ‘‘pandering to minority groups’’, and ‘‘broad and vanilla’’ statements.

‘‘. . . at the end of the day we couldn’t even get you to agree to a target of a 20 per cent reduction in suicide over the next 10 years,’’ King said.

The 2018 Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry recommended the Government ‘‘urgently complete’’ the lapsed plan, and set a target of 20 per cent reduction in suicide rates by 2030 (the Government rejected this).

The plan proposes streamlining existing suicide prevention programmes and reducing ‘‘unnecessary duplication across government and communities’’.

It also seeks to create a national Suicide Prevention Office. It would lead and monitor implementation of Every Life Matters, create a website with suicide prevention resources, and develop a national plan identifying gaps in suicide prevention research.

A suicide prevention and postvention workforce plan would also be developed.

It would monitor and evaluate Every Life Matters and produce an annual report on the strategy’s implementation.

Progress or completion on all activities in the plan is expected by the end of 2024.

Outcomes include supporting people who self-harm, making sure people bereaved by suicide have access to free counselling, and investment in Ma¯ ori and Pacific suicide prevention.

The document has a significant focus on bereaved families who have lost children to suicide.

‘‘We believe that every life matters . . .’’ Draft suicide prevention plan