Creating Hope Together: Year 3 Delivery Plan - 2025-2026

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.

Short term outcome: There is increased knowledge about, and equitable implementation of, appropriate, high quality, effective support; particularly focussing on reducing the inequalities that affect suicidal behaviour.

Action

5.1 Consider ways to adapt DBI

What we’ve done so far

We have explored opportunities to ensure Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) is considered for everyone with thoughts of suicide or who has attempted suicide where appropriate.

We have utilised academic research and engaged with policy team leads and DBI central team to explore opportunities and understand potential to develop DBI to meet the needs of people experiencing suicidal crisis.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Summer/Autumn Consider opportunities to link DBI data to suicide attempts data collection work under Outcome 4 to improve our understanding of risk factors and how DBI might support people at risk of suicide.

Use the findings of the Dimes study and through the lens of a Time Space Compassion approach explore further how DBI can support people at risk of suicide including:

• the offer of follow up support for all referred persons to DBI.
• arrangements for re-contact of referred persons directly to Level 2 provider.

Continue through engagement to promote a Time Space Compassion (TSC) support approach with Level 1 referrers groups.

Indicative budget to support delivery

Included in the current provision of DBI

Action

5.2 respond to the diverse needs of communities

What we’ve done so far

Worked across outcomes to identify a Community Led Action Research (CLAR) approach to support development of tests of change in communities.

Worked with Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to identify four communities of place and interest and establish CLAR approach to identify actions to address the number of deaths by suicide among those at higher risk.

Co-produced and delivered a series of Building Connections workshops, to build and deepen connections with organisations and groups working alongside communities impacted by discrimination, stigma, inequality and wider social determinants.

Published three TSC practice stories illustrating culturally sensitive support for communities impacted by discrimination, stigma, inequality and wider social determinants.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring / Summer 2025

Work with SCDC and SOLs to plan and recruit groups building on learning from phase 1 CLAR.

Work with Samaritans to explore links to Outcome 1 work.

Summer/Autumn 2025

Building on previous years CLAR activities work with all outcomes leads to commission Scottish Community Development Centre to support six groups to explore and test new ways of preventing suicide. This will focus on themes of inequalities as detailed within the Samaritans/ The Lines Between literature review report - policy areas of poverty; alcohol and substance misuse; children and young people; and across the themes of stigma and discrimination; transitions and life changes; and isolation and loneliness.

These additional groups will utilise community-led action research to identify approaches that reduce the number of deaths by suicide among those at higher risk.

Summer/Autumn 2025

Continue with development of community based TSC activities including Building Connections groups. Expanding involvement and membership of men focused issues group.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£83,800

Actions

5.3 Build new peer support capability

What we’ve done so far

Scottish Recovery Network (SRN) was commissioned to deliver work to build peer support capacity across Scotland. To support this ambition, SRN has developed relationships with Local Suicide Prevention Leads & partners including organisations working with groups who experience inequalities to build understanding of the value of peer support and consider ways to make peer support available locally.

They have also developed monitoring/ evaluation framework for SRN project and agreed an approach to capturing information about existing peer support provision.

Co-designed bespoke training on peer support for suicide prevention and delivered a workshop at the Creating Hope Together Conference in 2024 on Peer support.

Enhanced peer support resources which include:

• Launch and roll out of training.
• Development of practice guides.
• Delivery of a programme of network events across Scotland.
• Built in understanding of how peer support can address the needs of diverse communities.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

Continue enhancing Peer support through launch of practice guides to provide peer volunteers, workers and managers with more specific examples of peer support in practice.

Continue delivery of Creating Hope together (CHT) peer support workshops extending further into third Sector services, Universities and the Mental Health Foundation. Delivery of learning & networking events both in person and online.

Develop an accessible and consistent approach to evaluating peer support.

Continue to work with local suicide prevention leads to embed peer support within local suicide prevention delivery plans.

Autumn/winter 2025

Host a national event (November 2025) to celebrate the work and impact of peer groups and services within suicide prevention work.

Develop a short film with Suicide Prevention Scotland with a focus on three peer support services who offer support to people who have survived their own attempt at suicide.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£111,942

Action

5.4 Develop resources to support families, friends, carers / unpaid carers

What we’ve done so far

Links to action 4.6

Engaged with unpaid carers and young carers organisations to explore and review existing resources and identify gaps.

Continued engagement and work with carers organisations to understand how national resources can support local suicide prevention work undertaken by local carers organisations.

Ensured connection with work to implement National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) recommendations which will include a focus on carer involvement.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

Produce a range of useful and informative digital materials to be hosted online (but available in hard copy on request). Each of these will be specifically designed and written with a focus on the specific needs of unpaid carers (including young carers).

This will include:

• Time, Space, Compassion: a Guide for Unpaid Carers.
• Let’s Talk about Suicide: companion resource to Time, Space, Compassion: A Guide for Unpaid Carers.

Initial feedback on the content of the two draft documents will be gathered from partnership colleagues across the sector, particularly Carers Trust, Carers Coalition, Mobilise, NES, Suicide Prevention Leads. These will then be designed and produced by Electrify and published on the Suicide Prevention Scotland website and disseminated to carers organisations and via Suicide Prevention Scotland networks.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£7500

Action

5.5 Ensure relevant staff in education settings are skilled and responsive

Included in work on whole schools approach and curriculum development under outcome 2.

Included in funding for CYP delivery lead

Action

5.6 Prevent suicidal behaviour in CYP

What we’ve done so far

Developed a report with recommendations for action based on:

• Existing sources of data, information and evidence.
• Survey of organisations working with children and young people (CYP).
• Review of the academic evidence.
• Engagement with the Youth Advisory Group to build understanding of priorities for action.

Ensured themes and the intersectional experiences of CYP were considered in all work across the 4 outcomes including how to address identified barriers to support.

Worked with members of the Child and Family Mental Health Joint Strategic Board to ensure the recommendations on suicide prevention are considered and form part of their work.

Progressed work focussed on care experienced CYP ensuring, through providing opportunities for local suicide prevention and Promise Scotland leads, to connect and support learning and working to embed suicide prevention action plans in secure care settings through action 6.1.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer/Autumn 2025

Working in collaboration with YAG, Children in Scotland and the V&A in Dundee to develop an Enabling Conversations Toolkit which supports parent/ carer/ important adults and young people.

This will include:

• How to have an effective conversation on suicide as a parent/ carer/ adult in a young person’s life
• How to speak to a parent/carer/adult in your life about suicide. How to speak to your peers about suicide as a young person.

The toolkit and peer-to-peer workshop will be launched in September 2025 and disseminated through Education Scotland, the Participation Network and the wider Suicide Prevention Scotland network.

Spring 2026

Evaluation of the peer-to-peer workshops and toolkit.

Indicative budget to support delivery

Included in funding for CYP delivery lead

Action

5.7 Develop approach to prevent suicidal behaviour in older adults

What we’ve done so far

Held conversation café and engaged with organisations working with older adults to build understanding of needs, intersectionality and effective interventions.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Explore opportunities to include older adults as a group in the new CLAR programme under action 5.4.

Undertake a literature review of suicide prevention needs of older adults, to inform next steps.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£6,000

Short term outcome: People, who may be suicidal or affected by suicide in any way, have more equitable access to appropriate, high quality, effective support - to prevent suicide and promote wellbeing and recovery; particularly focussed on reducing the inequalities that affect suicidal behaviour.

Action

5.8 Work in primary care

What we’ve done so far

Established connections at national and local level to explore opportunities for TSC in Primary Care including building TSC into existing Mental health work across primary care.

Published a second set of TSC practice stories including in primary care settings and worked to promote TSC and good practice in suicide prevention to the primary care workforce.

Informed and contributed to the delivery of strategic action 3.3. of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan – to improve access to support, assessment and treatment and high quality mental health care in General Practice.

Produced and promoted a podcast on TSC and suicide prevention in primary care.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

Work with Queens Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS) to develop and deliver a series of training events for primary care nurses that focuses on promoting relational impacts of care and reducing health inequalities in communities experiencing multiple disadvantage. This will include capturing learning from the workshop to support future developments.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£35,000 to support work across actions 5.8/5.9/5.10

Action

5.9 Work in unscheduled care

What we’ve done so far

Gathered information about current practice in unscheduled care settings.

Continued to build an understanding of and promote the principles of TSC across all Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)/ Suicide Prevention (SP) partnership areas, as well as examples/models of good practice through:

• TSC podcast exploring and highlighting application of the principles in unscheduled acute care settings.
• Sessions at Mental Health Unscheduled Care (MHUC) Learning Network – with a particular focus on the themes of managing risk, TSC for the workforce, creating a culture of trauma informed and compassionate care, and supporting communities impacted by discrimination, stigma, inequality and wider social determinants.
• Developed and promoted three TSC practice stories including in MHUC settings, with a particular focus on support for communities impacted by discrimination, stigma, inequality and wider social determinants.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Summer/Autumn

Build on previous activities to further develop understanding and promote the principles of TSC in unscheduled care. Particularly through the MHUC learning network but also awareness of these activities across HSCP/SP partnership areas.

Continue to develop, promote and share examples/ models of good practice for TSC with a particular focus on support for communities impacted by discrimination, stigma, inequality and wider social determinants.

Indicative budget to support delivery

Included in above figure

Action

5.10 Clinical care

Work to support statutory services to continuously improve the quality of clinical care

What we’ve done so far

Engaged with NCISH and Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) to establish areas of good practice.

Delivered session at Mental Health leads network on NCISH recommendations in mental health settings and identified three health boards to undertake improvement work to pilot implementation of NCISH recommendations.

Supported improvement work in the three Boards with an initial focus on risk management and carer involvement.

Established connections with HIS work around Significant Adverse Event Review’s (SAERs) and Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP).

Shared learning through Mental Health leads network and MHUC learning network.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

Support the three NHS Boards to implement improvements to risk management and family/carer involvement. This includes developing and implementing a plan to produce a national improvement resource for all NHS Boards.

Test and iterate plan and approach with Lived and Living Experience Panel (LLEP), YAG and Health Boards.

Indicative budget to support delivery

Included in above figure

Action

5.11 Bereavement support

What we’ve done so far

Completed evaluation of pilot service and explored evidence from other services across Scotland and the UK to agree an approach to roll out of bereavement support across Scotland.

Worked with partner agencies across Scotland to develop an implementation plan to roll-out bereavement support in line with the commitment for coverage in 50% of NHS Boards in Scotland, which sets out criteria for engaging with NHS Boards & local partners, and timelines.

Identified NHS Board areas where there are opportunities to connect with existing work or an increased need for bereavement support, based on data and intelligence.

Developed a programme of capacity building with other relevant organisations through the use of programmes such as Wave After Wave (WAW) training.

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

Continue work with local areas to support development of bereavement support across Scotland in line with the evaluation recommendations from the pilot services. This will support delivery of bereavement support in 50% of NHS Boards by the end of the 2025/26 delivery plan.

Organise a Wave After Wave (WAW) Training for Trainers session with trainers from five identified Health and Social Care Partnership pilot areas. Begin a planned roll out of WAW in these areas to include localised evaluation of delivery effectiveness and workforce impact. Evaluations to be collated and reviewed by expert group and Outcome Leads.

Consider scoping for national telephone line for support/referral or signposting (See Action 5.12).

Enhance reach of current activities via Cruse Scotland to supporting workplaces with suicide bereavement support to include blue light services and primary health care settings.

Autumn 2025

Host a national event to bring together community, voluntary sector and local SP leads. This will focus on the work, impact and bringing together of groups and services connected to suicide bereavement support.

Indicative budget to support delivery

Delivery of Suicide Bereavement Support Service in NHS Ayrshire & Arran and NHS Highland areas funded directly from Scottish Government £322,101

CRUSE workplace support funded directly from Scottish Government £56,000

Support for suicide bereavement support roll-out £41,000

Action

5.12 Single helpline number for Scotland

What we’ve done so far

Actions and milestones 2025/26

Spring/Summer 2025

AAG review of evidence to support single telephone number.

Engage with LLEP/AAG on scoping need for Single Scottish Telephone number.

Consider impact of single number on portal, wider mental health support ecosystem, including NHS 24, and connection to national bereavement support.

Autumn 2025

Consider options on whether to proceed with development of Single Scottish Telephone number.

Indicative budget to support delivery

£10,000