The HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) was established to strategically lead on suicide prevention across the HSE and in collaboration with multiple other sectors. The office is positioned in the Community Strategy and Planning area of our health services, but works in close partnership with operational counterparts in the HSE, for example, Mental Health Community Operations. 

P.25 The NOSP works proactively on many additional projects or initiatives aligned with Connecting for Life and other key strategic enablers. For example, in 2019 the office collaborated with HSE Social Inclusion on shared themes and messages on International Overdose Awareness Day. Connecting for Life identifies restricting access to means of suicidal behaviour, as a core element in preventing deaths by suicide. International Overdose Awareness Day provided a new opportunity to collectively focus on drug overdose issues including the need to broaden common understanding of overdose deaths and harmful access to drugs. 

P.33 Planet Youth is an evidence-based primary prevention model (originating in Iceland) introduced by the Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force and supported by the HSE Community Healthcare West and Galway, Mayo and Roscommon City/County Councils. Bringing together key agencies working with children and adolescents, it aims to ensure that young people are active, healthy, happy, connected to their families and community and achieving their full potential. In 2019, work commenced to develop the Planet Youth Strategy and Implementation Framework, which will provide guidance to stakeholders on embedding primary prevention approaches into their day-to-day work. Two examples of initiatives are the provision of seminars for parents (Raising Resilient Children in the Digital Age) and highlighting the importance of sleep by providing guidelines to parents on bedtimes and screen time/social media usage. 

P.48 Since 2003, BeLonG To Youth Services has supported lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) young people in Ireland. The national organisation works with young LGBTI+ people, aged 14 to 23, to create a world where they are equal, safe, and valued in the diversity of their identities and experiences. BeLonG To also advocate and campaign on behalf of young LGBTI+ people, and offer a specialised LGBTI+ youth service with a focus on mental and sexual health alongside drug and alcohol support. 

P.62 SpunOut.ie, Ireland’s award-winning youth information website provides high-quality, easy to access, relevant and non-judgemental information to young people online, particularly targeting those at risk of self-harm and suicide with signposting to appropriate services. In 2019, the organisation developed a number of call-to-action campaigns in the areas of self-harm reduction, suicide prevention, alcohol harm reduction, and promoting positive mental health. The primary outcome of the alcohol harm reduction campaign was increased understanding of the negative impact alcohol can have on a person’s mental health, particularly in relation to suicide and self-harm. SpunOut.ie provided information and support for young people whose mental health is affected by alcohol, and signposting to connect those young people with services. The campaign also had content on supporting a peer whose mental health is affected by alcohol, and also raised awareness of the risks of mixing alcohol with drugs.