Creating Hope Together: Scotland's Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026-2029

Foreword

In 2022 we published our highly ambitious joint 10 year suicide prevention strategy for Scotland, ‘Creating Hope Together’. In this, we set out our vision for suicide prevention in Scotland: to reduce the number of suicide deaths in Scotland, whilst tackling the inequalities that contribute to suicide.

With a clear focus on prevention and early intervention, we are taking a collective, whole-system approach to achieve this vision. The progress that has been made over the first three years of the strategy, through our joint Action Plan (2022-2025), is testimony to the collaborative work of all our national, local and sector partners – including those working with some of our most marginalised communities – alongside our valued lived and living experience panels and Academic Advisory Group. Through this community we are harnessing our collective resources, insights and leadership to make the biggest difference possible in preventing suicide.

Through our joint strategies on Suicide Prevention, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Self-harm, Scotland’s national and local government are committed to addressing the persistent inequalities that we know can be a driver of poor mental health and a risk factor for suicide, such as poverty, homelessness, unemployment and substance use. We are learning more about the protective factors that can reduce suicide risk and are deepening our understanding of how this can apply across different areas of policy and services and in our communities. Aligning priorities on suicide prevention with those aimed at addressing the underlying causes of poor mental health more broadly is a key priority. Through our actions we will continue to ensure our early intervention and prevention approaches are supporting positive outcomes for both decreasing suicide deaths in Scotland and improving mental health more broadly.

This work is also supported by Scotland’s Population Health Framework, which provides a long-term, cross-government vision for improving health and reducing health inequalities. The Framework emphasises prevention, shared accountability across sectors, and the importance of the wider social, economic and environmental determinants that shape both physical and mental health. By promoting coordinated action across national, local and community systems, the Framework strengthens our ability to address the root causes of poor mental health and suicide risk, thereby complementing and amplifying the actions set out in this plan.

We are pleased with the progress being made across our mental health landscape. For example, passing 100,000 referrals for the Distress Brief Intervention Programme and providing over 6,100 grants through our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults in its first four years.

But we are not complacent and know there is still much to do. This includes doing more to reach and support people at higher risk of suicide, such as prioritising action to meet the needs of those affected by stigma, discrimination, social inequalities and at key transition points in their lives.

We also need to do more, as politicians, policy makers and national and local organisations working across and beyond mental health, to challenge the negative rhetoric around minority and marginalised groups that we increasingly hear online, in the media and in wider society and which we know can have a direct impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing and increase the risk of suicide.

This new action plan is informed by the learning from both national and local delivery and emerging practice. It builds on the ambition and achievements of the previous plan, accelerating progress towards our shared vision. This will be achieved by us working together to build a ‘whole of government and society’ approach to suicide prevention — one that is rooted in compassion, informed by evidence, and driven by collaboration across sectors, communities, and individuals. By aligning efforts, sharing responsibility and investing in prevention where we will have most impact, we will create the conditions where fewer lives are lost to suicide and more people are supported to live with hope and free from stigma.

We look forward to continuing to work side by side with all our partners – turning a shared ambition into lasting, transformative change.

Tom Arthur MSP

Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing

Councillor Paul Kelly

COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson