Are you, or is someone, in mental health crisis and need urgent help or support?

Our aims are that:

People are not exposed to harmful content through inappropriate reporting and portrayal of suicide and instead see more hopeful messages around help-seeking behaviour, and positive stories of recovery.

Local news outlets have a better understanding about how to report suicide sensitively and safely, leading to fewer articles of concern being written.

Shaping Conversations and Saving Lives

Coverage of suicide can influence how people behave in a crisis and their beliefs about the options open to them. The media has a unique opportunity to inform and educate the public about suicide, encouraging important conversations, changing attitudes and behaviours and promoting help seeking. This can save lives.

Training Local Media on Suicide Coverage

Samaritans Media Advisory Service work with the Cheshire and Merseyside Suicide Prevention Partnership to engage local media in a responsible approach to covering the topic of suicide locally, offering ‘Suicide in the Media’ training to local news outlets, communication teams and anyone else who has a responsibility to report on suicide.

The service also monitors and analyse local news coverage of suicide, offering advice on cases of concern.

Samaritans Media Guidelines

Samaritans have an online hub of resources covering some additional topics to help journalists and programme makers further understand the issues surrounding suicidal behaviour and offering practical tips on covering these topics. Topics include celebrity suicides, inquests, youth suicides, self-harm and suicide clusters, and portraying of suicide in documentaries and dramas.