Local Community Support

Survey of suicide countermeasure implementation by local governments in Japan

In FY2018 and FY2019, a survey was conducted across Japan to assess the status of suicide countermeasure plans in local municipalities, using a checklist prepared by the Japan Support Center for Suicide Countermeasures (JSSC), as required by the Basic Act on Suicide Prevention. For FY2020, the Survey of Local Countermeasure Plan Implementation will be conducted to ascertain the status of countermeasure projects for the year.

Background

The Japan Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Center (JSCP), following on from the Center for Suicide Prevention (CSP) and continuing the work of the JSSC, once a year directly investigates local governments and reports on the implementation status of suicide countermeasure programs in each region.

The Basic Act on Suicide Prevention, which was revised in 2016, required prefectures and municipalities to formulate suicide countermeasure plans, kicking off the movement nationwide. At the same time, there was an increasing expectation by local governments formulating the plans that the Local Suicide Countermeasure Promotion Centers (Local Centers) would serve as an area manager in their respective regions.

In light of this, at the end of FY2017 JSSC distributed a checklist as one of the reference materials included in the Guide to Support for Formulation of Municipal Suicide Countermeasure Plans for Local Centers. This checklist follows the Guide to Formulating Suicide Countermeasure Plans as published by the Office of Suicide Prevention, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in November 2017, and by following the checklist municipalities are able to formulate their own plans.
Local Centers then distributed this checklist to the local governments in their jurisdictions, and reported to the JSSC several times a year on the status of the formulation of these plans. Based on these reports, through liaison meetings of Local Centers, the status of these plans throughout Japan is then shared amongst relevant parties.

Future Plans

By the end of FY2019, many local governments formulated suicide countermeasure plans in accordance with the guide, but for those currently still developing plans, it’s hoped that with the assistance of their Local Center they will finalise locally-relevant plans as soon as possible.

JSCP will conduct the Survey of Local Countermeasure Plan Implementation in cooperation and collaboration with the Local Centers in order to understand how the countermeasures described in each local government's plan has been implemented and what issues remain after FY2020. Updates to the status of these countermeasures throughout Japan will be monitored and shared amongst the relevant parties.