Advice for employers, senior leadership and line managers
If you are a line manager or senior staff member, employees may turn to you if they are experiencing suicidal ideation.
In this situation, it is important to be compassionate through empathy, active listening and understanding.
It is also just as important that you do not carry the emotional load alone or be expected to act as a counsellor.
It is important to refer the staff member to a health care professional such as their GP or signpost to support services such as texting SPACE to 85258.
If the staff member is unable to keep themselves safe or is at immediate risk of harming themselves, call 999 or 111 and select option 2 for mental health support.
After talking to the staff member, it might be helpful to arrange check-in meetings with them to ensure they feel supported. However this should be optional and staff should not feel like they have talk about how they are feeling if they do not want to.
It is essential that senior leadership create mentally healthy workplaces and open and safe environments for staff members. This can be an opportunity to lead by example and send out clear messages to staff about the importance of mental health and wellbeing - including having compassionate conversations about suicide.
More guidance on how to talk to colleagues about suicide is available:
- Orange Button Training Scheme - free suicide prevention training for anyone living in Birmingham or Solihull
- Mind have a range of resources on how to prevent suicide in work organisations
- Samaritans offer a range of programmes for workplaces
- the British Standards Institution offers a framework for organizations to address suicide
- Suicide Prevention Toolkit for senior leaders, line managers, HR and occupational health professionals
- People manager guide: Responding to suicide risk in the workplace
Page last updated: 29 January 2026
