Every year, about 30 people in the Kronoberg Region and about 40 people in Kalmar County die by suicide and about ten times as many try to take their own lives.
The survey shows that only 2 out of 8 municipalities in Kronoberg, Lessebo and Tingsryd have an action plan for suicide prevention.
In the Kalmar region, only 1 in 12, Mönsterås municipality, has an action plan.
Many have contact with social services
A recent compilation by the National Board of Health and Welfare has shown that as many as one-third of all people who have committed suicide before have had long-term contacts with the municipality's social services.
- The municipality therefore has unique opportunities to save lives - more important than we previously understood.
Suicide prevention is about working with mental health in school or efforts to break social isolation among the elderly.
It can also be about education about mental illness so that we all have a better knowledge of how we can meet a fellow human being with suicidal thoughts, says Rickard Bracken, Secretary General of Suicide Zero, in a press release.
In 2020, when the corona pandemic has been going on, many guides around the country have also testified that more people than ever are contacting them.