Zero suicide ambition

The zero suicide ambition is a wellbeing strategy.

It’s not about judging the act of suicide, or people who might wrongly think they could have stopped it. It is more about trying to improve people’s lives so they don’t get to the stage where they are considering suicide, and if they do, there are better options available.

It is a long-term goal, the full impact of which may not be seen until several years’ time. In the meantime, there may be further deaths by suicide. This shouldn’t be seen as a failure to achieve the ambition but rather an opportunity to learn how to do things better and to prevent further deaths.

The causes of suicide are complex and often multiple. They involve a building up of risk factors and a breaking down of protective factors over someone’s entire life. Given enough time, every suicide is preventable and if we accept that, then the only ambition that we can possibly entertain is that of zero suicides.