How to talk about suicide safely online

It can be helpful think about your reasons for posting before you share anything. Do you want to raise awareness, or perhaps you’re looking for support?

Posts that are helpful to one user may be distressing to someone else, so it’s useful to think about the potential impact a post could have on people who may be in distress or have personal experience of suicide.

Some people might be upset by seeing something about suicide online, even if it’s supportive or helpful. Consider putting a note at the beginning of your post explaining that it relates to suicide to let others decide whether they want to look at it. For example, you could write 'Content warning – this post discusses suicidal feelings.'

Try to use phrases like ‘ended their own life’, rather than ‘committed suicide’ which can stigmatise suicide or make it sound like a crime. Avoid language that suggests suicide is quick, painless, or a solution to a problem.

Whenever you talk about suicide online, try to include a link or information on available support services, such as Samaritans, and encourage people to reach out for help. Be clear that suicide is preventable, and that support is available.

Try not to speculate about the reasons behind someone feeling suicidal or the details around someone's suicide or death before it has been confirmed by an official source, for example a reliable news website.

It’s important to remember that suicide is complex and caused by lots of different factors. Avoid attributing it to a single cause, such as social media or bullying, which could increase the suicide risk of someone else experiencing similar issues.

You can find more information on the myths about suicide on this page

It’s OK to post and share tributes to those who have died, but try to emphasise that their death was preventable, rather than suggesting that the person may have achieved something through suicide, for example they are ‘in a better place’. Posting lots of photos of the person can also make vulnerable people identify with them and consider copying their actions.

Regularly posting content about suicide can be distressing for others and can affect your own wellbeing. Remember to take breaks, reach out to people you care about and consider doing offline activities to look after your wellbeing, like going for a walk or having a cup of tea.

Sharing unhelpful posts about suicide can help to spread unintentional harmful messages to thousands of people online.

If you're posting about news articles, new research or statistics relating to suicide, try to only share content that comes from a reputable source that talks about suicide in a safe and sensitive way.

Posting about methods of suicide can encourage vulnerable users to consider or try it themselves, and it has been linked to increased rates of suicide.

It’s also important not to post about the location where a suicide or suicide attempt took place as it can increase awareness of the place being connected with suicides, contributing to it becoming an commonly used place to take your life and can draw vulnerable users to the location.

You can find more information on safely remembering a friend or family member who has died by suicide on this page

If you see posts with detailed descriptions of methods, you should report it to the site where you saw it

Research has shown that positive stories about people overcoming a crisis and how they have recovered from this can encourage vulnerable people to seek help and is associated with fewer suicides.