This article discusses suicide and could cause distress to some readers.

On the 10^th September The World Health Organisation will promote World Suicide Prevention Day. This is a three-year programme, supported by The Samaritans, MIND, and ithrive Edinburgh as well as other organisations, with the theme “Changing the Narrative”.

This initiative is aimed at encouraging people to speak about mental health, the complex reasons why people take their own lives, extending empathy and confronting stigma. Good early intervention can help a person in crisis so that they can be supported at crisis level then have timely access to treatment which will address the underlying issues which have caused them to go into crisis.

Suicide remains statistically significant according to the Department of Health, with the last three years remaining stubbornly high. The difference between the suspected suicide directly standardised rate (DSR) in January 2026 (9.8 deaths per 100,000), compared to December 2025 (9.7 per 100,000) or November 2025 (9.9 per 100,000). (The reference to “suspected suicides” is due to reporting by the attending police pending any inquest or Fatal Accident Inquiry).

When we break down these statistics we find so much distress and loss of life. The suicide rate in January 2026 for males (15.0 per 100,000) remains higher than females (5.1 per 100,000)

The age group with the highest rate of suspected suicide in January 2026 remains those aged 45 to 64 (12.9 per 100,000), followed by people aged 25 to 44, then those aged 65 and over, with the lowest rate in those aged 10 to 24 (4.0 per 100,000) – there has been no statistically significant change to these statistics for the last three years across these age groups.

The most common method type for deaths by suspected suicide in the latest quarter (October to December 2025) remains hanging, suffocation and strangulation (53.6%), followed by poisoning (22.2%), jumping or lying in front of a moving object (7.5%), fall and fracture (5.9%), sharp object (3.5%) and drowning (3.2%) – other or unknown (4.0%)

Between January 2024 and January 2026, out of 8,137 deaths by suspected suicide:

• 6,116 (75.2%) were in males
• 2,021 (24.8%) in females

In January 2026, out of 234 deaths:

• 172 (73.5%) were in males
• 62 (26.5%) in females
• 19 (8.1%) in people aged 10 to 24
• 84 (35.9%) in people aged 25 to 44
• 88 (37.6%) in people aged 45 to 64
• 43 (18.4%) in people aged 65 and over.

It is my own experience as a qualified Independent Mental Health Advocate(IMHA) with 15 years experience working in hospitals and deprived communities that there are very few places of safety and good treatment for those at the height of their mental distress. It is very very difficult to get someone into hospital. A police station or A and E in 2026 is simply scandalous.

Furthermore analysis of NHS England data, by mental health charity YoungMinds, has revealed young people referred to mental health services waited an average of 304 days² for support between September and November 2025. This is up 28 days from 276 compared with the same time the previous year. This is the fourth reporting period in a row waiting times have been longer than 300 days, the highest average waits on record. In the worst cases, young people waited over two and a half years to access support.

This situation, and the means to address the high rates of suicide and mental health in the population, has fortunately been addressed in the Policy Paper “Whole-person Mental Health- Care, Choice, Community and Combatting Populism”, which was adopted as Liberal Democrat Policy at York Spring Conference this year. This is a ground-breaking document which builds on decades of Liberal campaigning to improve mental health and break down stigma, at its core promising to treat mental health with the same urgency and dignity as physical health.

Labour promised parity of treatment and funding for mental health, but have now backed away. A Liberal Democrat Government will address the prevalence of suicide among males, young people and farmers who have contact with agencies but not mental health or with agencies which have lost funding. It is my belief that Liberal Democrats can campaign with this document and reach out to people with mental health problems, as well as of course their families and carers.

* Ron Aitken is a former Libdem Cllr in Haringey and is a qualified Mental Health Advocate who has been a witness in the Court of Protection.