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

Outcome 3

Outcome 3: Everyone affected by suicide is able to access high-quality, compassionate, appropriate and timely support – which promotes wellbeing and recovery. This applies to all children, young people and adults who experience suicidal thoughts and behaviour, anyone who cares for them, and anyone affected by suicide in other ways.

Priority: Promote and provide effective, timely, compassionate support – that promotes wellbeing and recovery.

Why is this important?

Evidence tells us that access to timely, compassionate and high-quality support is essential to reducing suicide risk and promoting recovery.

It is important to embed consistent, equitable support across services and communities that ensures people receive the right help at the right time, and in ways that reduces the barriers often felt by marginalised communities that can increase their risk of suicide.

It is also important to work with service providers so they can adapt to the needs of individuals and communities in ways that prevent distress and suicide.

What do we need to do?

Ensuring access to effective, timely and compassionate support for adults, children and young people requires collaboration and commitment across all sectors. We will do this by working collaboratively across local areas to embed Time Space Compassion. We will also strengthen our work with marginalised communities and organisations that support them, to understand how inequalities, stigma and discrimination experienced by people and communities can increase risk of suicide and make it more difficult for people to get the support they need.

Using a range of approaches including community-led action research, we will continue to build on good practice that improves the links between statutory and third sector services, and communities to increase accessibility. We will continue to consider how to embed suicide prevention in ongoing improvement work nationally and locally, for example through the Mental Health Quality Standards, the Scottish Patient Safety Programme, and the Population Health and Health and Social Care Services Renewal Frameworks.

Across all of this work, we will continue to maintain good connections with our work on self-harm, recognising that self-harm can be a risk factor for suicide and the importance of cohesive, joined up approaches in this area.

Building on our work since 2022

We have made progress towards improving access to compassionate and effective support for people affected by suicide, and working with a range of marginalised communities, and with organisations to explore how adults, children and young people can be supported to prevent suicide.

For example, we have:

• collaborated with national and local partners in statutory services and in community settings, to strengthen the consistency and quality of support available, with growing emphasis on person-centred approaches such as Time Space Compassion
• worked with local areas to encourage the development of suicide bereavement support in parts of Scotland
• delivered support to workplaces and communities who have been impacted by a suicide throughout Scotland
• supported a new Community-Led Action Research (CLAR) Programme deepening our understanding of how different communities experience and respond to suicidality
• boosted community-based peer support groups and services for people affected by suicide
• worked with NHS Boards to embed the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) recommendations on safer mental health services

What impact do we want to have?

In this action plan we will:

• continue to build on this strong foundation to ensure support is timely, accessible and rooted in compassion
• embed the principles of Time Space Compassion across a range of services and settings, including Primary Care
• use community-led learning (including from our CLAR programme) to help shape more equitable, inclusive and locally responsive approaches rooted in an understanding of the context in which people are living
• contribute to wider work to ensure crisis support is accessible and effective for children and young people affected by suicide, including those from marginalised groups
• continue to grow suicide bereavement support
• continue to develop and grow suicide prevention peer support, including in clinical settings
• continue our work to embed the NCISH recommendations in our mental health services

How will we do this?

Create opportunities for everyone affected by suicide to receive safe and timely compassionate support.

3.1 Improve consistency and quality of suicide prevention in Primary Care, Mental Health, and Unscheduled Care settings. This will include actively considering how best to support people affected by suicide within our mental health system service renewal work, drawing on evidence and best practice on risk management, models of care, and recovery. Our continued work with NHS Boards to support implementation of National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) will focus on embedding relational, evidence-based practice that reflects the principles of Time Space Compassion, and linking with third sector services, to improve access to support, and reduce risk. This will also include working with wider programmes such as Distress Brief Intervention.

“Having time is not enough. The quality of that time, and the ability to be flexible with that time is key. It is essential that the space is appropriate for the needs of the person using it and that they feel safe and welcome to use it. Compassion underpins both aforementioned, and much more.”

CLAR participant

3.2 Continue to raise awareness of and sharing learning and practice on Time Space Compassion with national and local partners working across peer, community and statutory settings. This links to specific work to embed these principles into practice in clinical settings. This is likely to include supporting partners to promote and embed effective use of the Time Space Compassion resources, for example by facilitating workshops in local areas.

Support the development and delivery of tailored and targeted support to those most at risk of suicide

3.3 This means utilising the learning from previous engagement (including through the CLAR programme) to improve the way we respond to the needs of diverse and often marginalised communities, particularly where there is a heightened risk of suicide. This will include communities of place and interest who experience stigma, discrimination, minority stress and socioeconomic inequalities. We will do this in a variety of ways, including through: continuation and expansion of the Community-Led Action Research Programme, which aims to deepen our understanding of suicidality and effective suicide prevention in different communities; new work – for example, to deepen our understanding of how problem gambling can drive poor mental health and suicidality in marginalised communities; and incorporating learning from wider work – for example, about the distinct challenges and barriers neurodivergent people can face when seeking support.

“We need to feel safe and connected with those who are supporting us before we can recover.”

Youth Advisory Group member

3.4 Strengthen suicide prevention and support for children and young people, including those who may be at higher risk of suicide. This is likely to include neurodivergent children and young people, and – in line with our commitments in The Promise – those who are care experienced. We will work with relevant stakeholders to focus on targeted work in areas and settings where we can have the greatest impact, such as education (schools, colleges and universities) and youth work settings, ensuring approaches reflect their distinct risks, needs and life experiences, including at key transition points. Our work to develop the Framework for Supporting Children and Young People in Crisis will support this action.

3.5 Ensure that people bereaved by suicide can easily access high-quality, timely, compassionate support wherever they live in Scotland. We also want to widen understanding across a variety of different sectors and services, of the impact of being bereaved by suicide, through learning and capacity building. This could include (for example) money and advice agencies, registrars and housing providers.

Peer Support

3.6 Expand and develop peer-led approaches which support early intervention and foster hope, connection and recovery for people affected by suicide, including in statutory and clinical services. We will use our learning from these approaches to inform policy development and service delivery.

“Talking to people who have lived through it can let them know that they can get through.”

Youth Advisory Group member

“(My highlight was) connecting and hearing from peer groups, experiences and thinking about local opportunities to support and embed peer support.”

Creating Hope with Peer Support – Learning and networking participant