Abstract
Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, both public and private, including health and non-health sectors such as education, labor, agriculture, business, justice, law, defense, politics, and the media (“Preventing suicide,” 2014). These efforts must be comprehensive, integrated, and synergistic, as no single approach alone can impact a complex issue such as suicide. For this reason, many suicide research units have been set up and also there are academic courses that focus on suicide prevention. To provide practical help, non-specialized health professionals are being used to improve the assessment of suicidal behaviours, for example, self-help groups of bereaved families have been established in many places, and trained volunteers are helping with online and telephone counseling.
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Notes
- 1.
Mindfulness is a practice of meditation where an individual becomes fully aware and present of this one particular moment.
- 2.
A peer support worker is a person who has recovered to a great degree from a mental health challenge that he/she is now able to share with others who are undergoing similar problems, and support them in the recovery journey.
- 3.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded national healthcare system for England under government administration. Virtually the entire population is covered, and health services are free except for certain minor charges.
- 4.
Losing a job, home foreclosure and financial uncertainty lead to an increase in the risk of suicide through comorbidity with other risk factors such as depression, anxiety, violence and the harmful use of alcohol (111). Consequently economic recessions, as they relate to cases of individual adversity through job or financial loss, can be associated with individual suicide risk (112).
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Ong, E. (2021). Existing Suicide Prevention Programmes and Assessments in Hong Kong. In: Early Identification and Intervention of Suicide Risk in Chinese Young Adults. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7641-3_3
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