How suicide prevention project has been supporting West Yorkshire Gypsy and Traveller communities

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP) and Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange’s (GATE) Suicide Prevention Programme was designed to tackle the high suicide risk among the communities with one-to-one-support, suicide awareness training and projects to tackle stigma.

It has already been running for two years and now funding has been secured for at least another year.

Key to the project’s success has been Leeds GATE mental health worker Bernard Cunningham, who is from Romany Gypsy background and passionate about mental health in his community, having experienced his own struggles in the past.

He said: “It is scary that our community’s high suicide rate is so hidden. Gypsies and Travellers don’t show up in the data, so having statistics and showing risk factors makes this issue much more visible.

“The situation is further compounded by stigma within the community and people not feeling able to talk about their mental health. People are experiencing multiple risk factors and are shouldering these themselves or within their family unit.

“That’s why this project is so badly needed. It’s shown what can be done and that people do want to engage when it’s done right and designed around them."

Gypsy and Traveller communities are known to face some of the most severe health inequalities and poorest life outcomes among the UK populations.

In Leeds GATE’s ‘Don’t be Beat’ report, published in 2020, the charity reported an average of six suicides per year affecting the Gypsy and Traveller population of 7,000 across West Yorkshire and cited a study which found Traveller suicide rate was six times higher than the general population.

The WY HCP suicide prevention project aimed to reach as many as possible within the communities across Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield District, through outreach work in venues such as gyms, churches, and other community-based organisations as well as providing support to people living in houses, sites and roadside encampments.

The project also saw a total of 33 people, who were deemed to be at significant risk of suicide, offered one-to-one intensive support to tackle their individual needs. Many of these reported multiple risk factors for suicide such as poor health, financial difficulties, feeling isolated and being in an unstable relationship.

Government advisor on suicide prevention Prof Sir Louis Appleby, who is chair of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group, welcomed the innovative work of the project.

He said: “Gypsy and Traveller communities have been neglected in suicide prevention previously.

“There may be gaps in the evidence but any group facing economic adversity and public prejudice is likely to be at risk. The imminent national suicide prevention strategy is expected to highlight the issue.

“So the pioneering initiative in West Yorkshire matters to the people who will benefit directly but it is also an encouragement to other parts of the country, welcome and overdue.”