Suicide prevention at work: building a workforce that is ready to respond

This is a guest insight written by Jamie Compton-Rea, Chief Operations OfficerThe National Centre for Suicide Prevention Education and Training, and published by RSPH as part of Public Health Workforce Week 2026.

Suicide prevention is often thought of as the responsibility of mental health professionals. Yet, in reality, the people who notice that someone is struggling are often colleagues, managers, HR professionals, teachers, emergency service workers, construction workers or people working directly with customers and communities. 

They may never describe themselves as working in public health. But the conversations they have, the changes they notice and the way they respond can make an important difference. 

This is why the wider public health workforce has such an important role to play in suicide prevention. 

At Suicide First Aid®, our work is built around a simple principle: people do not need to become mental health professionals to have a potentially life-saving conversation. They do, however, need the knowledge, skills, confidence and support to recognise when someone may be thinking about suicide, to ask about suicide directly and compassionately, and to know what to do next. 

Increasingly, we are seeing organisations recognise that a wellbeing policy or an employee assistance programme alone is not enough. People need to know what happens when they are worried about someone. 

Who should they speak to? What should they say? What happens when someone tells them they are thinking about suicide? Where does their responsibility begin and end? And, importantly, who supports the person who has had that conversation? 

These are practical workforce questions as much as they are mental health questions. 

Moving from awareness to preparedness 

The publication of BS 30480:2025, Suicide and the workplace – Intervention, prevention and support for people affected by suicide, represents an important development in how workplaces can approach these questions. 

Rather than treating suicide as something organisations respond to only when a crisis occurs, the standard provides a framework for thinking about prevention, intervention and support in advance. 

For us, one of its most important implications is that suicide prevention cannot rest on training alone. 

Training people to recognise and respond to suicide is important, but those people must sit within an organisation that is prepared to support them. There need to be clear pathways, appropriate policies, defined responsibilities, access to further support and an understanding of when specialist help is required. 

Otherwise, there is a danger that organisations train individuals to have difficult conversations without creating the systems around them that allow them to respond safely and effectively. 

Building capability across the workforce 

This is where the wider public health workforce has enormous potential. 

Through our Suicide First Aid® programmes, we work with people from very different sectors and professions. Many will never work in a clinical or specialist mental health role, but their everyday work brings them into contact with colleagues, customers, service users and communities. 

Our role is not to turn those people into therapists or clinicians. It is to help build the capability to recognise when something may be wrong and to respond appropriately. 

Our approach teaches three practical steps: Recognise and Ask; Listen and Explore; and develop an SFA Coping Plan®. 

Perhaps the most important part of that is giving people permission and confidence to talk openly about suicide. 

For many years, fear has surrounded these conversations. People worry about saying the wrong thing, making a situation worse or taking on a responsibility for which they do not feel qualified. 

Good education can replace some of that fear with confidence and clarity. But organisational support must sit alongside it. 

Making suicide prevention part of everyday public health 

BS 30480 gives employers an opportunity to look beyond individual initiatives and ask a bigger question: Are we genuinely prepared for suicide? 

That means considering prevention before someone reaches crisis, ensuring people know how to respond when concerns arise, supporting those affected by suicide, and learning and reviewing afterwards. 

It also means recognising that suicide prevention belongs beyond the boundaries of specialist services. 

The wider public health workforce has contact with millions of people through everyday working relationships. We should not expect that workforce to diagnose, treat or become responsible for another person's safety. But we can equip people to notice, to ask, to listen and to connect someone with further help. 

For workplaces, the next step is therefore not simply to ask, “Have we provided suicide prevention training?” 

It is to ask, “Have we created a workplace in which people are prepared, supported and able to respond?” 

That shift, from awareness to capability, and from individual responsibility to organisational preparedness, could be one of the most important contributions workplaces make to suicide prevention. 

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article or are experiencing thoughts of suicide, support is available. You can contact Samaritans free, 24 hours a day, on 116 123. If you need urgent support, contact 999 or attend your nearest Emergency Department.