New community-led initiative to develop suicide prevention strategy for Singapore

SINGAPORE - Suicide survivors, researchers and advocacy groups have banded together to come up with a national strategy to tackle suicide in Singapore, after such deaths hit an over two-decade high here.

The community-led initiative, helmed by advocacy group SG Mental Health Matters, was launched on Sunday, which was also World Suicide Prevention Day.

The initiative aims to develop a White Paper by the end of September 2024 that will outline strategies and interventions to reduce suicide rates and provide support to those at risk.

Former Nominated MP Anthea Ong, who is part of SG Mental Health Matters, said the spike in suicides was a major factor behind the new initiative, which she co-leads.

“By bringing together stakeholders from the public, private and community sectors, we hope to develop a White Paper that can drive a national suicide prevention strategy,” she said.

There was an alarming spike in suicides here in 2022, with

476 deaths reported.

This was the highest figure since 2000, and 25.9 per cent higher than the 378 cases in 2021. The increase came amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which had taken a toll on mental health since 2020.

On the World Health Organisation’s website, 49 countries have reported official plans and policies aimed at suicide prevention, but Singapore is not one of them.

While Singapore has

an inter-agency task force on mental health and well-being,

it needs a suicide-specific strategy, said psychiatrist Jared Ng, the former chief of emergency and crisis care at the Institute of Mental Health.

“Improving mental health services and access to them is just one part of the picture,” he added.

“We need a strategy that covers education, prevention, crisis intervention and support for families and people who have survived suicide attempts.”

Dr Ng, who is co-leading the initiative, said he knows of children in school who have discovered their schoolmates attempting suicide or self-harm.

Parents need to know how to deal with this issue, he added.

The new initiative will also involve those who have struggled with suicide in the past.

One of them is Dr Rayner Tan, 34, a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

The mental health and addictions researcher told The Straits Times that he contemplated suicide when he was in secondary school, and realised he could go for therapy only in his late 20s.

“When I was feeling suicidal, I faced issues involving bullying, sexual orientation and acceptance that I didn’t know how to deal with, how to seek help, and I didn’t feel safe talking about these things,” he said, adding that he hopes his experience will prove useful in coming up with a strategy to address the issue.

Researchers say there is also a lack of data on suicide here, and this gap is something the initiative hopes to examine.

It counts among its members artificial intelligence-powered analytics firm OPPi, which has conducted surveys on mental health and suicide.

In a survey of 200 people in July, the firm found that 37 per cent had considered suicide in the past year.

The firm’s analysts were surprised to find that among those at risk who reported a strong support network, some 75 per cent would not seek help from their loved ones for fear of burdening them.

The firm now hopes to study the factors contributing to the rise in suicides and ways to support those who are suicidal.

Other members of the initiative include representatives from non-profit suicide prevention centre Samaritans of Singapore and the PleaseStay movement, an advocacy group on youth suicide prevention that comprises mothers whose children have died by suicide.