It is important to maintain a stigma on suicide so that it doesn't become an almost socially acceptable occurrence, an American expert on the subject has told a conference on suicide prevention in Belfast.
David Litts said a multi-faceted approach to tackling suicide was crucial to reducing the incidence of people taking their own lives. "Suicide prevention is everyone's business," said Mr Litts, who is managing project director of the Washington US government-funded Suicide Prevention Resource Centre.
"It is important to keep a stigma around suicide. We don't want people viewing suicide as a normal or common occurrence. It is equally important to end the stigma around the associated issue of mental health and people seeking help for their problems," he continued.
Mr Litts said it was established that a multi-focused political and community approach could reduce suicide, but what was vital was that this was backed up with the proper political and community will to combat suicide.
Mr Litts cited his own experience dealing with the problem in the US Air Force, where he had served as executive director of the force's suicide prevention programme.
It was noted that during the 1990s suicide levels increased by 40 per cent in the air force, which has 600,000 personnel. In 1996 alone, almost 100 members of the force took their lives, statistics revealed.
Part of the remedial work was to challenge the "macho culture" of the air force, by making it clear to members that anyone with suicidal tendencies or personal problems who sought assistance would be encouraged and helped. Various agencies, such as health departments, family support groups, chaplaincies and research bodies, co-operated with the project.
From 1996 to 2000, there was a dramatic reduction in suicide rates and by 1999 the incidence was down to about 25 members of the force taking their lives.
"But then we started noticing the graph going up again," added Mr Litts. "What we found was that the campaign to reduce suicide was no longer being implemented with the same degree of energy and intensity. So it's crucial to stay focused."
More than 300 delegates dealing in various health, social and voluntary care areas that touch on suicide attended yesterday's conference.
Many of the delegates were bereaved by suicide which, in recent years, has become a major issue in Northern Ireland, particularly in areas such as north Belfast which has a high suicide rate.
They heard from John Peters who lost his son Dale "through suicide" and is now a volunteer with the charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (Sobs) in Britain.
Speaking from a bereaved "survivor's perspective", he opened his address by observing that the bereaved generally object to the phrase, "to commit suicide".
He was applauded by several people in the audience when he said "the use of this phrase perpetuates the stigma of suicide as a criminal act".
On the bereaved trying to cope with their loss, Mr Peters said: "It is not simply a question of moving on, but it is a question of working through your grief, of making progress. We reconstruct our lives; we don't simply try to put our lives back together as they were before, and crucial to achieving this is a proper level of support."