Event highlights
On 12 September 2025, a suicide prevention webinar brought people with lived experience together with representatives from the health, education, welfare and social sectors; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); and academia to discuss how to prevent suicide by strengthening access to care through a multisectoral approach.
The webinar was part of the series “Enough waiting: reshaping mental health care”, under the European Union-funded project “Addressing mental health challenges in the 27 European Union countries, Iceland and Norway”.
Suicide remains one of the most pressing yet preventable public health issues in Europe. Despite long-term declines in rates, progress is uneven and gaps persist.
Ledia Lazeri, Regional Adviser for Mental Health at WHO/Europe, explained, “Suicide remains a public health concern. According to 2021 estimates, we have more than 47 000 suicide deaths [per year] in the European Union – these are 47 000 deaths too many.”
Speakers emphasized that availability of services is not the same as accessibility. National strategies must translate into local action and empower individuals. They also warned that emerging risks – including social media and harmful content amplified by artificial intelligence – demand innovative approaches.
Country experiences in suicide prevention
Participants heard concrete examples from across Europe. For example, Malta is finalizing a suicide-specific plan nested in its mental health strategy after extensive consultation across sectors. Recognizing that mental health is a shared responsibility and has psychological, physical, social and cultural aspects, the country engaged multiple ministries, NGOs, police, education, the media and even the leisure industry in this process.
Slovenia now embeds suicide prevention inside its national mental health programme to bridge both the treatment gap and the help-seeking gap, pairing services with media guidelines and mental health first aid.
Denmark’s new national suicide prevention plan created a 35-member council that can solve practical bottlenecks – for example, by standardizing follow-up after self-harm presentations and coordinating with newsrooms – while publishing municipal-level data to steer local action and accountability.
Lived experience at the heart of action
In the second part of the webinar, participants had the opportunity to hear testimonies from people with lived experience.
Živilė Valuckienė, a cardiologist from Lithuania, recounted how following an attempt to end her own life 9 years ago she was hospitalized against her will and treated with psychotropic medication. “The side effects were unbearable, and in the hospital, psychiatric treatment left me feeling dehumanized, devastated and hopeless.” A few days after her discharge, she attempted to end her life again.
“I feel that the psychiatric system failed to see me as a whole person, not just a patient,” she expressed. Živilė’s recovery began when people saw the person, not the diagnosis.
“What I needed most throughout my recovery was understanding, empathy and a safe space to share my feelings without judgment.” In her ongoing anti-stigma work in Lithuania Živilė creates spaces for open conversation, illustrating how culture change turns into prevention by making it safer to say, “I need help.”
Golli Marboe, an Austrian journalist, lost his son to suicide. He spoke of how postvention protects communities, reminding participants that responsible storytelling and the “Papageno effect” – media portrayals that feature narratives of hope, healing and recovery from suicidal crises – can reduce risk.
Golli also shared how the Mental Health Days in Schools project has reached approximately 150 000 pupils across Austria. He stressed that success lies in students, teachers and parents learning together, as well as using anonymous tools so that quiet voices are heard. His message crystallized a core theme for the day: “Postvention is prevention.”
John F. Meehan, Head of the National Office for Suicide Prevention in Ireland, shared how Ireland is taking proactive approaches to operationalize this theme. These include a national survey of people bereaved by suicide (revealing wide, enduring impacts and unmet support), a network of suicide-bereavement liaison officers who proactively reach families at home, and Safe Harbour, an illustrated book series that helps children and caregivers talk about suicide loss.
Overall, speakers converged on the need to pair strong national multisectoral leadership to co-design with people who have lived experience, and to treat postvention as prevention, ensuring proactive outreach so no one grieves alone.
Onie Sandersan from WHO noted, “Suicide is so incredibly multifaceted that it doesn't only span one specific area. It needs to be tackled by so many different sectors, as it is only through a strategic, coordinated approach by different stakeholders that we are able to reduce suicide.”
WHO’s “LIVE LIFE” implementation guide was highlighted as a practical resource for countries. Additionally, the outcome statement of the regional high-level conference on mental health in all policies, held in Paris in June 2025, was referenced as a concise blueprint of shared priorities and actions for the WHO European Region to address mental health challenges through cross-sector collaboration.
Event notice
WHO/Europe is hosting a webinar to explore suicide prevention strategies with a focus on strengthening access to care through a multisectoral approach.
Suicide remains a public health challenge in our Region and is a leading cause of death among young people aged 15–29. Over 120 000 people die by suicide each year – this is nearly 300 suicides every day.
Risk factors extend beyond mental disorders and include socio-economic and health-related issues such as loneliness, unemployment, chronic pain, abuse, discrimination and emergencies. Stigma often prevents people from accessing timely care, and while many people who are thinking of ending their life access healthcare, they are often missed or go unnoticed due to fragmented systems.
The webinar
This session will highlight how strengthening access to care through a multisectoral approach—connecting health, social services, education, workplaces and communities—can enhance prevention. It will explore:
- Improving access to timely care for at-risk individuals, supported by real-life case studies;
- Postvention strategies, from the standpoint of attempt survivors and people bereaved by suicide;
- Enablers and barriers for applying these strategies across various European settings.
Speakers will include representatives from health, education, welfare and social sectors, NGOs, academia, and people with lived experience.
To register for the webinar, please click the link.
About the series
This event is part of the WHO/Europe webinar series “Enough waiting: Reshaping mental health care”, organized under the EU-funded project “Addressing mental health challenges in the 27 European Union countries, Iceland and Norway”. The project supports countries in scaling up access to quality mental health care and preventive services, and fosters cross-sectoral collaboration to address suicide and other mental health challenges across the Region.