Ripples of Despair -  Shining a light on the impact of lives lost to alcohol, drugs, and suicide (2024)

At the beginning of this report, I wrote about the importance of hearing from people who have experienced the far reaching and indiscriminate effects of harm caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide which ripple far and wide.  

This report highlights that whilst these issues can affect anyone, sadly it is the people in our most disadvantaged communities that are the worst affected.  

We have seen how inequalities faced by people in our community, starting from conception and throughout life, often lead to poor health and lives being cut short from alcohol, drugs and suicide. 

But we are determined to reduce inequalities, giving everyone the best start in life, empowering and maximising capabilities, and providing the support needed throughout to thrive, so everyone can lead healthy and fulfilling lives.  

We must act together across multiple sectors to achieve this.  

1 - Co-production with people with lived experience

'Nothing about us without us' 

Supporting the Thrive pledge of 'putting people and families at the heart of everything we do', and the Health & Wellbeing Strategy commitment to 'make sure that all local people can contribute to and engage with the future of Gateshead', we want to increase the voices of lived experience in the development, co-production and evaluation of our strategies and service delivery plans, including children, young people and adults.  

This includes meaningful approaches across our partnerships to involving people with lived experience, where their knowledge and expertise is valued.   

We envisage organisations who build capacity and capability for this work, drawing on the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion by working with a range of individuals with lived experience.  

Recognising the role of our VCSE organisations in Gateshead in supporting people and reaching into communities, we will work collaboratively as set out in our Gateshead Compact Agreement 2024-27.

2 - Challenging Stigma

'Stigma kills' 

We all have a responsibility to reduce stigma surrounding mental health, alcohol and drug use, self-harm, and suicide.  

I envisage our communities and organisations across Gateshead, understanding that problems caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide are not a personal choice, resulting in people receiving the same quality support as those dealing with other health issues.  

Starting with the language we use, organisations should have a clear communications strategy that ensures the right language is used, as recognised and supported by people with lived experience. Reducing the negative impacts of stigmatising language.   

The focus of our strategies, policies, plans, communication and training, needs to shift from a narrow lens of personal responsibility to one where we recognise and address the factors and inequalities that can lead to these circumstances.  

The learning and development needs of our workforce should be considered in challenging stigma, extending the reach of initiatives such as Recovery Ally Training which helps increase understanding of the language of recovery and to provide support without judgement.  

We must create conditions that maximise the chances for our people to recover from addiction according to their own needs and strengths. We can do this by making Gateshead a recovery place, which promotes visible recovery and challenges stigma. We achieve this by embracing the principles of inclusion, recovery and integration, using a whole-system approach. This involves partnership working with community organisations, specialist treatment services, policymakers, people in recovery, employers, and neighbours.  

3 - Give every child the best start in life

'An ambition for all children' 

To improve and protect health for future generations, giving our children the best start in life is the most important thing we can do.  

Gateshead seeks to create supportive and healthy environments where all children can thrive, breaking the cycle of adversity and promoting wellbeing.  

Reducing the impacts of childhood adversity requires community and civic-level action to strengthen resilience and reduce health inequalities that can lead to ill health, and harm from alcohol, drugs and suicide.  

We want to see a whole-systems approach to supporting our children and young people's health and wellbeing, where resources and decision making is prioritised towards their needs. To do this we need to learn from the findings of our recent Children and Young Peoples mental health needs assessment, mobilising as system to take forward the recommendations. 

This includes promoting an alcohol-free childhood; identifying young carers for parents with alcohol, drugs and mental health concerns and providing much-needed support; nurturing, inclusive and safe school environments; and strengthening support for care experienced children and young people across the system.  

We must continue to tackle poverty at every opportunity, ensuring that the resources are available for the support services, to lessen the damaging effects of poverty. This means offering different things in different places, reaching for equity.  

 4 - Making health equity everyone's goal

'Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick?'

We must continue to prioritise the eight Marmot Principles as set out in our Health and Wellbeing Strategy, to tackle the inequalities happening in our communities, leading to ill health and harm from alcohol, drugs and suicide.  

But we can't do this alone, it is everyone's responsibility.  

'Health in all Policies' (HiAP) provides a framework to help address complex issues linked to alcohol, drugs and mental health, across sectors. Making it a reality, means making health equity a goal for everyone. It is vital, that health and wellbeing is considered in its broadest sense, with a strong acknowledgement of the building blocks of health, and parity given to outcomes related to alcohol and drug use, mental health, self-harm, and suicide.   

This needs to be reflected in the design, delivery, and evaluation of strategies and plans, such as the developing Gateshead Suicide Prevention Plan, Gateshead Drug and Alcohol Strategy, Children and Young People's strategy, and many others across the system that address the building blocks of health, such as the Local Plan and Economic Development Strategy. 

Employers in Gateshead have a vital role to play in influencing the conditions in which people work and live and, consequently, their health. Promoting health and wellbeing goes beyond awareness campaigns and can be achieved through good quality jobs and working conditions that provide parity for mental wellbeing, support financial wellbeing and reduce the impact of stigma through training and effective anti-bullying policies.  

Unemployment can be a significant time of stress, this needs to be recognised and understood as a system, with psychological support offered to reduce the risk of harm caused by alcohol, drugs and poor mental health and wellbeing.  

5 - A place-based approach to tackling health inequalities

'Working effectively as a system, putting people and families at the heart of what we do' 

Equitable, accessible services are vital for those who are experiencing the harms from alcohol, drugs, self-harm, and suicide. To do this we must understand the needs of communities experiencing increased risk of harm, with inequalities identified and built in to planning and evaluation of services. This includes continued use of trauma informed approaches to reduce barriers and create safe, sensitive and trusted services.  

To better understand the health inequalities faced by our most vulnerable communities, we must improve the data and knowledge we collect and share with partners. This includes understanding the needs of the groups experiencing inequalities as highlighted in this report, and increased understanding of self-harm, online harms across all-ages, and the impact of domestic abuse. 

It is important that our response to this issue is not solely focused on the services we provide when people are already experiencing harm, and it is vital we address the factors that lead to harm in the first place.  

To do this, we need to consider action for Gateshead through the Population Intervention Triangle, as set out in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This ensures we strengthen the building blocks of health on a societal and community level. 

There is a need to increase protective factors for people and communities, drawing on the strengths of local assets, to prevent deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide. This means understanding what our communities need and what they have to offer.  

 6 - Tackling the commercial determinants of health

'Putting people before profit' 

In last year's report, I brought attention to the tactics used by the smoking, alcohol, gambling and fast-food industries and the harm and devastation caused by these unhealthy commodities.  

Action must be taken to reduce harm from health-damaging industries including alcohol, gambling and social media. 

This includes supporting and advocating the Balance Blueprint for Reducing Alcohol Harm, using our local systems such as advertising and licensing policies to protect children and vulnerable adults, and continuing to challenge the narrative of the alcohol industry that focuses on personal responsibility and poor choices. 

We must continue to recognise the harm caused by gambling as a public health issue, advocating for a comprehensive public health approach to gambling harm prevention, and building our knowledge and capability of this issue locally, to support communities in Gateshead.  

Online harms and the impact of social media are increasingly part of our world. When considering the environments we live in and how they impact health, we must not forget the digital platforms we navigate. As we develop our response to suicide prevention, we must consider the impact of online harms and work together with communities to advocate for safer online environments, including the role of media corporations in responsibly reporting deaths from alcohol, drugs or suicide. 

7 - Making Gateshead a Compassionate Place

'Transforming life and death though the healing powers of compassion and community' 

The harm from alcohol, drugs, and suicide ripples across people and communities. Any loss can be difficult to bear, and bereavement due to alcohol, drugs and suicide can evoke difficult feelings and lead to isolation. Those experiencing terminal illness due to alcohol and drugs, may face further inequalities at the end of life. 

I believe that Gateshead is well placed to embrace a Compassionate City approach and create the conditions to improve end of life and bereavement care for all, including vital and timely bereavement support and bereavement-friendly workplaces for the people in our community who experience the devastating ripple effects of these deaths.  

We need a shared vision of Compassionate Gateshead, where we can build on the numerous assets that already exist, from commissioned services, charities, and compassionate individuals who are dedicated to improving the lives of people working, living and dying in Gateshead.