Local Community Support

Providing information to support the development of local suicide countermeasure plans in line with local conditions

The Local Suicide Countermeasure Policy Packages present recommended measures to be included in prefectural and municipal suicide countermeasure plans, alongside specific examples in order to facilitate planning. Combined with the Profiles of Suicide in Local Communities which provides detailed analyses for each region, this altogether assists municipalities in formulating countermeasures effective for their respective regions.

Japan Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Center (JSCP) took over the project from the Japan Support Center for Suicide Countermeasures in April 2020, and has since been preparing both the Local Suicide Countermeasure Policy Packages and Profiles of Suicides in Local Communities, providing them to local governments.

Combining the national Basic Package and region-specific Priority Package

The Local Suicide Countermeasure Policy Packages consists of a "Basic Package" and a "Priority Package" The Basic Package is a set of measures that should be implemented nationwide as a base minimum.

■The Basic Package consists of the following five groupings.

1. Strengthening local networks
2. Developing human resources to support suicide countermeasures
3. Awareness raising and dissemination among local residents
4. Supporting life-enhancing measures
5. Education on how to raise an SOS about students

The Priority Package, on the other hand, presents detailed measures for priority issues in specific regions, as based on the measures outlined in the General Principles of Suicide Prevention Policy (2017). This is a group of measures that should be added to the Basic Package, selecting items on the basis of local needs.

■The Priority Package consists of the following eight groupings.

1. Children and youth
2. Workers and management staff
3. The poor and needy
4. Unemployed
5. Elderly
6. High-risk locations
7. Disaster-affected areas
8. Means of suicide

※Education on how to raise concerns about students has been included in the basic package for all local governments to use as soon as possible, as providing students with the life skills to deal with crises in life is a priority initiative.

Planning and implementing effective measures as per local characteristics

relevant important issues. The Profiles of Suicide in Local Communities analyzes the reality of suicide in each local government area, evaluates each local characteristics based on the results of the analysis, and presents priorities for the Priority Packages. Local government officials are then able to select Priority Packages based on the key areas identified in the Profile. Implementing a Priority Package that takes into account local characteristics in combination with the Basic Package will enable the formulation and effective promotion of suicide countermeasure plans that are in line with local realities.

A summary of the results of the analysis and recommended measures (Priority Packages) are presented, as well as other detailed aspects of local suicide characteristics.

A summary of the results of the analysis (suicide rate and regional percentage) is presented, and an assessment of the local characteristics is given at the bottom.

Policy packages play an important role in the PDCA cycle for suicide countermeasures

In December 2017, the current Local Suicide Countermeasure Policy Packages were distributed by the Local Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Centers (Local Centers) of all prefectures and ordinance-designated cities to all municipalities in their jurisdiction in the form of electronic media (PDF files), enabling one-click access to the details of local countermeasure initiatives as they correspond to each policy. A booklet version has also been prepared and distributed to all Local Centers.

In addition to the existing functions, JSCP will continue to develop new Policy Packages that can be used for progress management, improvement, and evaluation of the effectiveness of suicide countermeasures in conjunction with ongoing evaluation, as based on the PDCA cycle.

In the future, JSCP will conduct full-scale verification and evaluation of the effectiveness of suicide countermeasures implemented in Japan (the "C" in the PDCA cycle). New Policy Packages will be developed to provide highly accurate measures that can be used to formulate more effective measures that are more in line with regional conditions.