The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, today launched a new National Framework to address the issues of student mental health and suicide prevention on World Mental Health Day 2020 (10^thOctober).

This Framework is Ireland’s first ever national approach to address student mental health and suicide prevention. The Framework has been developed as part of the Higher Education Authority’s commitment to play its part in delivering on the Department of Health’s Connecting for Life – Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015-2020 (here).

This new National Framework was developed in collaboration with students, mental health and suicide prevention specialists, academics, researchers and institutional staff. The Framework delivers on a commitment to develop national guidelines for the higher education institutions (HEIs) in relation to suicide risk and critical incident response, thereby helping to address any gaps which might exist in the prevention of suicide in higher education.

Both the Framework, and a handy Implementation Guide are available for download here:

National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework

National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework Implementation Guide

National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework Implementation Guide

National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework