Buck Bond Group

Suicide and Mental Health: A Look Back

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Suicide is the leading cause of injury-related death in Canada and the 10th leading cause of all deaths in the United States, while in the United Kingdom, one in 15 people have attempted to take their lives. Working-aged men and women represent one of the highest risk groups for suicide.

This week (September 10-16) is National Suicide Prevention Week in the U.S., so we wanted to help raise awareness of the issue from a workplace perspective, to guide employers through the steps they can take to understand, and try to prevent, suicide. Three of our health consulting experts from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. have written on the topic of mental health in this blog in the recent past – we hope the information they convey will be helpful to you.

Wellbeing: Walking the Walk – Employees with mental illness need programs and work arrangements that support their good health. In her June 2016 post, our Canadian Health Practice Leader Lizann Reitmeier laid out some ideas to help.

Managing Adversity and Everyday Life – Key to the ongoing success of an employee mental health wellbeing strategy is helping to build emotional resilience in the workforce. Simon Crew, one of our former health consultants in the U.K., wrote candidly about the topic in his May 2016 post.

Beyond Disease: Innovation in “Behavioral Health” – What’s innovative in the new behavioral health model of wellness programs? Lori Block, our Total Wellbeing Strategist, looked at these innovations in her November 2016 post.

If you would like assistance and advice in designing programs or plans to address mental health, and specifically the issue of suicide, in your workplace, please get in touch with us: