'Fuelling the stigma' | Are workplaces using outdated language when discussing suicide?

This article discusses mental health and suicide*

The number of businesses making efforts to support their workers’ mental health and wellbeing has rocketed in recent years, with a myriad of Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) and other methods of help at the disposal of many employees.

Whether it’s burnout, stress and anxiety about work or finances, or mental health conditions including depression, the awareness of these issues, and the support available for them, highlights just how far workplaces have come.

But when it comes to the most sensitive of mental health issues, new research indicates room for improvement - with a new study showing that many employees are still using inappropriate and outdated language to discuss suicide at work.

Social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England spoke to 2,000 UK employees, ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. Their results showed that two-thirds (66%) of employees are using harmful terms such as ‘committed suicide’.