10/09/2025
***dePreventionWeek
Hampshire and Thames Valley Police officers and staff are now able to access a su***de-prevention APP on their work mobile phones.
As ***dePreventionWeek begins, this is a major breakthrough for the Su***de Trauma Education Prevention campaign, as it is one of STEP’s key aims.
The Stay Alive APP, developed by the Grassroots Su***de Prevention Charity, provides tailored information to people if they are in crisis. It also gives guidance to colleagues, friends and family members about su***de warning signs and how to support someone who’s struggling with their mental health.
“I encourage officers and staff to be aware of this APP because you never know when you might need it, and it might not be you that it helps, it might be a colleague,” said Spencer Wragg, Chair of Hampshire Police Federation and founder of the STEP campaign.
The Stay Alive app is already the number-one su***de prevention APP in the UK and has helped support countless people in crisis, but this is the first time police officers and staff will be able to access the APP on their work phone.
Spencer said: “This APP isn’t linked to police systems, it’s just for you. It gives people who are in crisis immediate support and also provides guidance for those who are close to people in crisis.
“The Stay Alive APP is not designed to be part of an operational deployment when you’re dealing with a member of the public who’s in mental health crisis: we’ve got training for that.
“This is for that situation where you’re talking to a colleague in the workplace, or someone at home, who needs support and you don’t know what to do, you don’t know where to turn. Or you might be in that position yourself.
“If it’s an APP you store and never use, that’s brilliant. But it’s an APP you should have, because you never know when you’re going to need it.”
From 2011 to 2022, there were 242 su***des of police officers & PCSOs. From 2021 to 2024 an estimated 80 former/current officers took their own lives.
Hampshire and Thames Valley Police officers and staff should now have the APP automatically appear on their work phones and be available for use.
It is important for officers who are struggling to know they are not alone, and that there are people there to help. This includes, for immediacy:
The Mental Health Crisis Line: call 0300 131 2789 and Samaritans: call 116 123
Officers can also access the support offered by charities and organisations including Flint House, Police Treatment Centres, The Ben Fund and Oscar Kilo.
The campaign is calling on forces to introduce mandatory trauma debrief session referrals following a police officer or staff attending a su***de, wants forces to add a bespoke mental health/wellbeing APP to force mobile devices, calls on forces to better collect data on police officer and staff su***de/attempted su***de so we can better measure the extent of the issue and wants to encourage colleagues to talk about the taboo subject and not be concerned about that.
