How to talk about us
Below is some information about what we do at Grassroots Suicide Prevention.
Use this info for fundraising pages, Facebook posts, messages to friends and any other situation where someone asks what we do as a charity.
Scroll down for a language guide so you can learn which words to avoid and how to talk about suicide safely.
What to say about Grassroots Suicide Prevention
Don’t forget! We are Grassroots Suicide Prevention, not just Grassroots.
As one of our fundraisers, you are fundraising ‘in aid of’ or ‘for’ Grassroots Suicide Prevention.
Grassroots Suicide Prevention empowers people to help save lives from suicide through educating, connecting and campaigning nationally.
They know suicide can be prevented with timely intervention. Most people who die by suicide want their pain to end, not their lives.
When you donate, 85p of every £1 goes directly back into suicide prevention, which GSP achieve with an award-winning app, extensive online resources, a wide range of training and regular campaigns and events.
Grassroots Suicide Prevention empowers people to help save lives from suicide through educating, connecting and campaigning nationally.
They know suicide can be prevented with timely intervention. Most people who die by suicide want their pain to end, not their lives.
When you donate, 85p of every £1 goes directly back into suicide prevention, which GSP achieve with an award-winning app, extensive online resources, a wide range of training and regular campaigns and events.
- 60,000 people have been trained by us to have life-saving conversations
- 700,000 people have downloaded our pioneering and award-winning app
- 10,000,000 people have been reached through our recent awareness campaigns
Grassroots Suicide Prevention empowers people to help save lives from suicide through educating, connecting and campaigning nationally.
They know suicide can be prevented with timely intervention. Most people who die by suicide want their pain to end, not their lives.
When you donate, 85p of every £1 goes directly back into suicide prevention, which GSP achieve with an award-winning app, extensive online resources, a wide range of training and regular campaigns and events.
Educating
We offer bespoke and evidence- based consultation and suicide prevention training courses for individuals and organisations.
- 60,000 people have been trained by us to have life-saving conversations
Connecting
We listen, connect, and provide support through our Stay Alive app, tools, and resources to help keep people safe from suicide.
- 700,000 people have downloaded our pioneering and award-winning app
Campaigning
We help remove the stigma around suicide, raising awareness by campaigning and influencing at a strategic level.
- 10,000,000 people have been reached through our recent awareness campaigns
Why does suicide matter?
People select charities to fundraise for based on lots of different criteria. When you talk about GSP, it is important to explain why suicide is an urgent issue:
- One person dies from suicide every 40 seconds globally
- Suicide is the leading cause of death in the UK for people under the age of 35
- Over 200 schoolchildren die by suicide every year in the UK
- One in five people contemplate suicide in their lifetime
- Find more stats here
If your community can relate to suicide, your words can be even more powerful. It might also help to include a statistic about your local area from the ONS website.
For example:
The Northeast is the worst place in England for suicide deaths, per population. Approximately one person will die in the Northeast every day from suicide. Young men are still the most at risk, but numbers are rising in women and young children.
Five important things to get across when talking about suicide
- Most suicides are preventable with timely intervention
- Most people who think about suicide want their pain to end, not their lives
- Thinking about suicide is common – 1 in 5 people will have these thoughts at some point in their life
- People can recover from thoughts of suicide
- Suicide is rarely caused by one thing, it is very complex. It can be a combination of factors, like mental health issues, divorce, money worries and bullying.
Talking about suicide or asking about suicide does not encourage people to take their lives. Please remember that talking about methods and locations is not safe.
Talk about suicide safely
Talking and writing about suicide can be difficult, please read this short guide on words and details to avoid when you discuss our work with other people.
The language below helps to protect vulnerable people from reading things which may be triggering as well as contributing to a wider change in the language we use around suicide.
| No thank you | Yes please | Why? |
|---|---|---|
|
Commit suicide Successful suicide |
Died by suicide Ended their life |
Associates suicide with crime/sin Implies you can 'succeed' which is a positive word |
|
They were suicidal |
They experienced suicidal thoughts/suicidal ideation |
Avoids reducing a person to a negative characteristic Experiencing something is different from it being your identity |
|
Unsuccessful/successful suicide |
Made an attempt on their life Made a non-fatal attempt to take their life |
Presents suicide as a desired outcome |
|
Suicide epidemic Spread/wave of suicides Skyrocketing |
Increase/rise in suicide rate |
Glamorises suicide Suicides can happen this way as bereaved people are more at risk, attention should be diverted away from this |
|
Died instantly Quick, painless death |
Do not include these details |
Promotes the idea of a fast solution to suicidal feelings |
|
A cry for help |
A suicide attempt |
Unhelpful phrasing - all suicide attempts should be taken seriously |
|
Iconic spot Suicide hotspot |
Do not include these details |
Avoid information on methods or locations |
|
A suicide-prone person A jumper A suicide tourist A victim |
A person at risk of suicide |
Reduces a person to a tragic death |
|
Suicidal ideation is 'attention-seeking' |
Do not use these words |
Telling someone they are 'attention-seeking' comes with negative connotations and could reinforce that their problems don't matter or that nobody cares, which is not true |
|
Suicide can be 'cured' or 'solved' |
Suicide has many causes and factors unique to each person |
Suicide should not be framed as a 'problem' or 'illness' with one 'cure' - this is not the reality for many people |
|
Suicide is 'selfish' |
Do not use these words |
There is nothing 'selfish' about struggling with thoughts, feelings or situations that are causing pain or distress |
|
A completed suicide |
Died by suicide |
This implies that suicide is an achievement or a situation that only has one end |
Further resources on statistics, myths, warning signs and how to talk about suicide can be found here.