'More people are reporting working for organisations that offer mental health or suicide awareness training.'

It's not often we get to report positive trends when it comes to mental health and suicide but there are perhaps some glimmers of hope, as identified by the attached SPARK report created by MEL Research.

It’s not often we get to report positive trends when it comes to mental health and suicide but there are perhaps some glimmers of hope, as identified by the attached SPARK report created by MEL Research in Birmingham with input from The Jordan Legacy CIC and Towards Zero Suicide.

Data for the SPARK Suicide Survey was collected as part of the ‘Research with a Purpose’ omnibus study that ran between 17th March – 04th April 2025.

MEL Research has worked closely with The Jordan Legacy, when, together with our then collaborative partner, Paul Vittles, the first wave of omnibus surveys, looking at trends in mental health and suicide prevention, were first published in spring of 2022.

The May 2025 report once again surveyed 1500 UK adults aged 16+ and asked them questions relating to their mental health and their experience of and exposure to suicide, including how confident they feel in being able to access support or help someone who might be struggling with their mental health or with suicidal thoughts.

As you’ll see in the report, there are some encouraging signs, including an increased number of people attending formal training courses and awareness of where to get suicide prevention training and how to identify suicide risk. However, as positive as this statistic sounds, it still only represents 10% of those who responded to the survey. We need to be having more people attending suicide awareness and prevention if we are to create a truly educated and activated public, one of the aims of our report; “Moving Towards a Zero Suicide Society” published in 2023.

The survey also showed that between Spring 2022 and Spring 2025, the percentage of people reporting suicidal thoughts without serious intent declined from 42% to 36%, whilst those who seriously considered suicide, made a plan, or attempted, peaked at 22% in Spring 2023 before returning to 18% by Spring 2025.

Take a look at the report, it definitely makes for interesting reading – does it tally with your experiences, if you operate in the suicide prevention space?