September 11, 2023 marks the launch of the new Suicide Prevention Strategy by the UK Government and “a firm commitment to see the number of suicides in England decrease within 2 and a half years at the very latest”.
R;pple welcomes the launch, particularly the exploration of further opportunities to address online harms, including harmful content shared in pro-suicide websites and forums.
Urgent measures are much needed, as there has been no fall in suicide rates since2018, and we are experiencing a mental health pandemic.
One disappointing point from the new strategy is that there does not appear to be new funding for the plan’s initiatives, aside from a £10m grant, announced last month, for charities to invest in suicide prevention activity. The plan relies on existing resources which are not enough to generate real change in driving down suicides.
At R;pple, we will continue our tireless work to lobby the Government into recommending the use of the free R;pple technology to all schools, colleges and universities nationwide as an additional layer of protection in safeguarding their students from harmful online searches.
Alice Hendy, Founder and CEO of R;pple said:
“We’ve been lobbying for the Government, including speaking to all four suicide prevention ministers in the last two years, to do more in the online harms space, so it’s good to see a focus on the dangers of the internet is being included in this strategy.
We’d like to see enforced uptake of the free R;pple browser extension across the whole education sector – the resource provides a subtle intervention to students who might be conducting harmful searches on the internet relating to self-harm and suicide and instead signposts them to messages of hope and mental health support services. With no personally identifiable information captured by the tool, and at no cost to the recipient, this tech is a no-brainer that is saving lives from suicide on a daily basis.”
