“We always ask clients where they’d have gone without us – one said ‘to my grave.’” 

We speak to staff from our suicide prevention services on World Suicide Prevention Day 2025. 

Content warning: suicide

Every life lost to suicide is one too many. Although mental health awareness is growing, suicide rates remain stubbornly high. In 2023, over 6,000 people died by suicide in England and Wales, the highest rate since 1999 (source: ONS). When someone is in crisis, they need help there and then.  

That’s what our crisis and suicide prevention services are here to provide. When people feel they have nowhere to turn, services such as The Sanctuary in Bristol, Safe Haven in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset and the Hope Project covering Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, are able to offer timely, compassionate support, often within 24 hours. 

“We always ask the question to each client after support, where would you have gone if we weren’t here,” says Tammie Hemmett, Team Manager for Safe Haven, “a lot of people will say I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. One person said they would have gone to their grave.” 

Our suicide prevention services don’t just save lives and give people hope and courage, they also ease the pressure on critical health services, including ambulance crews, A&E departments, GP surgeries and other stretched mental health services.  

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day 2025, we spoke to three colleagues who work with our suicide prevention services about their life-changing work, the impact they have on their clients’ lives, and why funding suicide prevention services is so important for supporting the NHS. 

“We don’t keep clients waiting” 

“We’re compassionate, we empathise, we don’t try to fix people’s problems, we’re there to listen, and support and guide clients at their own pace.” Tammie says, “I think that’s what sets us aside from other services.” 

The service was co-designed with input from people who have experience of using local mental health services. Open seven days a week, it provides face-to-face or telephone support for people who are experiencing a mental health crisis. People in North Somerset can refer themselves to Safe Haven and will usually be able to secure an appointment that same day. 

“Mental health services have long waiting lists, and if a client is experiencing a mental health crisis, whatever that crisis may be, they require support there and then,” says Tammie, “We have a 24-hour referral pathway, so if we have a referral come in where a 24-hour response required, we’re able to respond in that time frame. We don’t keep clients waiting.” 

“A friendly chat, a listening ear, can have an impact on someone’s life” 

The Sanctuary, a crisis service based at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, is also known for its fast response times. It offers same-day, in-person and telephone mental health support by appointment five days a week, providing a safer option for people in crisis who might otherwise have to rely on the ambulance service or A&E.

Natasha Walker is a Senior Caseworker for The Sanctuary. Her role involves triaging clients and managing shifts for the staff.  

“We tend to get referrals from the ambulance service and other emergency services, and sometimes the hospital isn’t a great place for them,” says Natasha. “By coming to us, we’re able to the ground them, make a plan for that evening or for the next day until they are able to get the correct support in place.” 

“Some of our clients are very grateful for the work that we do. A lot of our clients do not have family and do not have friends that they can go to, so we do end up being that type of support network. Sometimes just a friendly chat, a listening ear, can have an impact on someone’s life.” 

“We will always ask explicitly if they’re having thoughts of suicide” 

The Hope Project is a mental health project that supports men aged 30-64 across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.  

More men die by suicide in England and Wales than any other demographic, accounting for 3 in 4 suicide deaths (source: ONS). Hope’s objective is to reduce the risk of suicide in this high-risk group. 

What makes Hope unique is that it offers a combination of emotional and practical support to help clients tackle the problems fuelling their mental health struggles such as debt, insecure housing and employment issues, as well as supporting their emotional wellbeing. 

Marina O’Brien has been Team Manager for the Hope Project since its launch in 2018: 

“I love the fact that we’re saving lives and that we are providing timely, appropriate support, when it’s needed, to clients,” says Marina, “We’re a really unique service because when we get a referral, that guy’s getting a call back usually the same day, always the next day.” 

The team takes a compassionate but direct approach which encourages men who may have struggled to open up in the past: 

“If [a client] shares that they’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, or they share that they’ve attempted suicide, we will ask for details,” says Marina, “And if somebody isn’t very forthcoming with the detail, we will always ask very explicitly if they’re having thoughts of suicide, and if so, ask details about that. That is often the first time that somebody has spoken about feeling suicidal.” 

“We are a cheap opportunity to reduce demand on services while also saving lives” 

Beyond the life-saving support that our suicide prevention services provide clients, we also play a major role in supporting the NHS and reducing the pressure on emergency services. 

“It’s really important to fund services like the Sanctuary because we are supporting the A&E departments,” says Natasha, “the impact that we have will reduce caseloads at the A&E departments and for other mental health services.” 

“It would be financially unviable to not fund [the Hope Project], because then you are going to see clients attend their GP surgeries frequently, they’ll start attending A&E repeatedly,” says Marina, “I got some details from the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Southmead Hospital, and the cost that it is for somebody just to set foot in and be seen by somebody, and then assessed by Psychiatric Liaison, and then if they’re an inpatient after a suicide attempt, and it’s so very expensive. So, we are actually a really cheap opportunity to reduce the demand on secondary services and primary services, while also saving lives.” 

Providing these services dedicated to suicide prevention, ideally outside of a clinical setting where clients feel welcomed and comfortable, also means better tailored support for clients: 

“We will always adapt the service – I will always adapt the service – to ensure we are meeting people’s needs,” says Tammie, “If things change, I will always try and look at a route or different pathway to suit anybody’s needs as best I can.” 

“Clients tell us, if I hadn’t had support from you, I wouldn’t be here” 

For all three of our suicide prevention experts, the pressure and emotional demands of working with people in crisis is worth it when they see the impact of their support on their clients’ lives. Marina says: 

“What we do know is that we have men telling us if it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t be here. We need to believe those men. We have men telling us if I hadn’t had support from you, I wouldn’t be here. And we get told this multiple times. 

“I think it’s a real honour to be able to work with men when they’re in crisis, offering them support that they’ve really struggled to ask for.” 

Natasha says: 

“We have a lot of return clients who are really grateful for our support. For me, my greatest achievement probably would be is that I was able to offer support to somebody who didn’t speak English and with the help of an interpreter service, we were able to get that support across and actually at the end of that support, he was able to say that the hour that he had with me is more than what you’ve had for multiple services that he’s tried. That for me is excellent.” 

Tammie says: 

“An achievement I’m proud of is I once supported a gentleman who was street homeless, and he would sit outside Safe Haven, and he would be in a really poor state of physical and mental health. He reached out to us for support, which it was very unusual for him, he found it really difficult. But I just built his trust for about six months by sitting with him and talking and listening to him. And he had an amazing story to tell. I once raised, I think it was three or four safeguardings to support him and I became his voice.” 

Find out more about Safe Haven

For more information about Safe Haven in Weston-super-Mare, including how to refer yourself or someone else, please visit our Safe Haven webpage.

Find out more about The Sanctuary

For more information about The Sanctuary in Bristol, including how to refer yourself or someone else, please visit The Sanctuary webpage.

Find out more about the Hope Project

For more information about the Hope Project, including suicide prevention resources, please visit the Hope Project webpage.