About the Book
Written by front line professionals in the fields of nursing, mental health, prison services and the law, this text is an essential companion to the government's new suicide prevention strategy. The contributors offer a wealth of practical guidance on issues such as risk assessment and management in a range of settings, policy and the legal framework around suicide.
Exploring the links between self-harm and suicide, the authors present international approaches to training in suicide prevention for professionals and preventative initiatives targeting wider communities. They debate the legality and morality of assisted self-harm and analyse the rate and causes of suicide among specific groups, including Black and minority ethnic groups, people in custody and people with mental illnesses.
This manual provides health, social care and criminal justice professionals with all the most up-to-date information needed to make a positive contribution to suicide prevention in institutional and community settings.
Table of Contents:
Foreword, Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental Health in England. 1. Introduction, David Duffy, Bolton Salford and Trafford Mental Health NHS Trust and Tony Ryan, Health and Social Care Advisory Service and Manchester University. 2. Assessing Suicide Risk, Jayne Cooper and Navneet Kapur, Centre for Suicide Prevention, University of Manchester. 3. Primary Care, Barry Lewis, Rochdale Primary Care Trust. 4. A&E and Mental Health Liaison, Alison Pearsall, Lancashire Care NHS Trust, Bury, and Tony Ryan. 5. Mental Health In-patient Settings, Nick Bowles, Preferred Futures and University of Bradford. 6. Community Mental Health Services, Nigel Crompton and Peter Walmsley, Mersey Care NHS Trust. 7. Young Men, Mike Smith, Freelance consultant and Health and Social Care Advisory Service. 8. Prisons, Jo Paton and Jo Borrill, Safer Custody Group, HM Prison Service. 9. Black and Minority Ethnic Groups, Hári Sewell, Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust. 10. Assisting Self-harm: Some Legal Considerations, David Hewitt, Hempsans Solicitors. 11. `Shouting at the Spaceman' - A Conversation about Self-harm, Clare Shaw, Service user consultant, and Christine Hogg, University of Salford. 12. Adolescents, Gemma Trainor, Bolton Salford and Trafford Mental Health NHS Trust. 13. The Role of the National Confidential Inquiry in Relation to Suicide Prevention, Jo Robinson and Harriet Bickley, National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness.14. Using Audit, Lester Sireling, Barnett, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust. 15. Carrying out Internal Reviews of Serious Incidents, Suzette Woodward Kathryn Hill and Sally Adams, National Patient Safety Agency. 16. Developing Training Packages, Jenny Droughton, Cheshire and Wirrall Partnership NHS Trust, Linda Gask, Lancashire Care NHS Trust and the University of Manchester, Gill Green, STORM co-ordinator and Clare Dixon, University of Manchester.17. International Perspectives in Suicide Prevention, Education and Training, Richard Ramsay, University of Calgary, Canada. 18. Supporting Staff and Patients after a Suicide, Victoria Pallin, University of Manchester. 19. Samaritans: Working with Everyone, Everywhere, Sarah Nelson and Simon Armson, Samaritans. 20. PAPYRUS: An Example of Voluntary Sector Work. Tony Cox, Anne Parry and Anna Brown, PAPYRUS. 21. Community Whole-System Approaches, Jude Stansfield, National Institute for Mental Health in England and Pippa Sergeant, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). 22. Useful Resources, Rowan Purdy, National Institute for Mental Health in England. The Contributors. Indexes.
About the Author :
David Duffy is a nurse consultant specialising in suicide and self-harm, employed by Bolton Salford and Trafford Mental Health NHS Trust. He has over twenty years' experience in mental health care. David has served as a panel member for a number of External Inquiries into homicides and suicides, has researched and published extensively on suicide, and is the lead author of the NIMHE Suicide Prevention Toolkit. Tony Ryan is Director of Tony Ryan Associates, an Associate Consultant with the National Institute for Mental Health in England (North West) and an Associate Consultant for the Health and Social Care Advisory Service and has worked in service development since June 2000. He has experience as a mental health nurse in the NHS and edited Managing Crisis and Risk in Mental Health Nursing (1999). Tony has published on a wide range of topics including service development, mental health policy, nursing practice and research methodology.
Review :
`The breadth of professional settings in which problems of assessing suicidal risk are examined and advice and training tools offered is a feature of some value to trainers in several fields.'
`This work sets out to contribute to the reduction of suicides by helping professionals and services respond appropriately to people at risk. It is aimed at a wide variety of professionals and others engaged in working with people who might be contemplating suicide.'
`This book, a wonderfully wide-ranging, holistic and practical manual for practitioners from health and social care backgrounds, aims to help suicide prevention by increasing practitioners understanding of this complex issue.
Written by two experienced mental health nurses who also have academic and policy backgrounds, this comprehensive book includes chapters from different health service sector perspectives. However, far more interestingly, it also includes legal considerations, the role of the Samaritans, issues around supporting staff after a suicide and a particularly thought provoking chapter outlining a conversation between a service user consultant and an ex-mental health nurse around issues of self-harm. The final chapter, on useful resources, is also the best I've read of this nature, and includes a range of relevant services from across the spectrum of health and social care.'
`This book is eminently readable and is strongly recommended to all those engaged directly or indirectly with those at risk'.
`What marks out this text from others on suicide is the breadth of contexts considered in relation to the wider question of suicide. For example, there are useful sections on prisons, primary care and inpatient settings, while crucial social factors such as age, ethnicity and gender are also looked at. A range of contributors has given the text a richness of experience'.
`A companion to the government suicide prevention strategy, this text offers guidance on management of suicide in different social and ethnic groups and settings. Nursing, mental health, prison and law professionals examine suicide in various groups in addition to policy and the legal framework regarding it'.
