Displaying items by tag: suicide prevention

Ofcom has launched its first investigation under the new Online Safety Act into a pro-suicide forum linked to at least fifty UK deaths. The anonymous website, which cannot be named for legal reasons, hosts disturbing content promoting suicide methods and substances - some linked to Kenneth Law, a Canadian cook charged with 14 counts of murder. The forum has tens of thousands of users, including children, and was instrumental in promoting Law’s deadly poison before his 2023 arrest. Families of victims are urging Ofcom to act swiftly, noting the site remains active and continues to attract vulnerable individuals. Campaigners like Melanie Saville, whose brother-in-law Joe died after visiting the site, have spent years lobbying for its closure. Though Ofcom now has the authority to fine platforms or seek court orders for removal, enforcement could prove difficult as the site is hosted in the USA. Campaigners warn that delay may cost more lives, while the forum’s operators claim censorship and are seeking cryptocurrency donations to keep the site open.

A second-year history student at Cambridge University died in March 2022, three other students died in May, and another in June. The history student was ‘on course to finish as one of the most accomplished students in his year’. The coroner said there was ‘absolutely no indication that he was struggling’. He had had no contact with college counselling services, and his GP confirmed there were no mental health issues. Prof Graham Virgo said that after the fourth death they approached the NHS and public health agencies to investigate and review what had happened and what lessons could be learned. He said, ‘There was no common cause behind these student deaths, but after reflecting on the review, we have considered various aspects of our practice and implemented training in suicide prevention.’ Across the UK there is an increase in the number of young adults experiencing mental ill health. Pray for the bereaved families.

A ‘safer custody’ telephone line for families to flag up concerns about a prisoner's physical or mental health was a key recommendation in a review commissioned by the Government, but research shows hotlines were not answered or had not been set up in over one third of jails. Most emergency calls went to an answering machine. Figures for the twelve months to June 2019 revealed 86 self-inflicted deaths, up from 81 in 2018, and 57,968 incidents of self-harm, an increase of 24% on the previous year. Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), said the problem is a very long way from being solved. It demands action now, as lives depend on it. The PRT said poor arrangements for families to get in touch with prisons had been identified in inquests into the deaths of prisoners.