Workplaces across Scotland will receive a suicide prevention and mental health training programme under Scottish Government proposals, backed by our local MSP.

Views are being sought on the creation a nation-wide training programme, aimed at embedding mental health training.

MSP Kenneth Gibson commented: “In Scotland there has been a 17% decrease in the suicide rate in Scotland since 2006. Nevertheless, the impact suicide has on so many families is huge.

“I first raised this important issue at Holyrood in 1999 and, while progress has been made, thousands of Scots have taken their own lives in the almost two decades since.

“I urge people across Scotland to help shape the SNP Government’s suicide prevention plans. Suicide is preventable and we must be bold to reduce the heartache it causes.”

Other proposals include making more use of social media to provide information and support.

Shirley Windsor, lead for Public Mental Health at NHS Health Scotland, said: “Every death by suicide is a tragedy with life-changing impact on families. We must do everything we can to prevent it, including developing more responsive services and listening to people with lived experience. The draft proposals present an opportunity to do this."