New suicide prevention report from Friends, Families and Travellers

Friends, Families and Travellers have published a report on actions taken on a local level to address suicide inequalities in Gypsy and Traveller communities, in light of the fact that members of Traveller communities are 6-7 times more likely than the general population to die by suicide.

They assessed 79 local suicide prevention plans which represent 113 local areas to see whether the high suicide rate in Gypsy and Traveller communities has been identified and mitigated against on a local level, and found that:

• Only 5 out of 79 local authority suicide prevention plans mention Gypsy and Traveller communities.
• Only 2 out of 79 local authority suicide prevention plans listed any action to address the high suicide rate in their local Gypsy and Traveller communities.

They will be writing to Directors of Public Health across the country highlighting the findings of the report, with guidance on addressing suicide inequalities in Gypsy and Traveller communities.

You can find a link to the full report here.