Caroline Farquhar

From 2004 - 2007 Caroline Farquhar was the Head of Implementation for Choose Life, the national strategy and action plan to prevent suicide. She is now working as an independent consultant specialising in strategic development, project design and delivery. She has established her own organisation, Caroline Farquhar Associates. She is currently developing evidence-based positive psychology training for the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing, and working with West Dunbartonshire Council to move forward their social inclusion initiative Building Better Futures.

insertimageI formally became involved with the National Programme in January 2004 when I was appointed Head of Implementation for Choose Life. I thought ‘great’! I have a real chance to make a difference here.

My vision wasn’t grand or complex but awesome in its simplicity; put simply it was to effect a cultural shift in Scotland where people who had or cared for someone with a mental health problem felt included in society. That inclusion meant their views, opinions and active contribution to Scotland’s wellbeing and economic development was valued.

Of course from a Choose Life perspective we had a very specific ambition – which was to save lives. Again, easy to say but not so easy to achieve. To help secure this goal the government set a target of reducing suicides by 20% by 2013. There has been much discussion around the benefits or demerits of a target. What I can say for sure is that everyone I came into contact with, whether they were head of a government department, working in the voluntary sector or struggling to reach a safe place themselves, shared our goal – to save lives.

Where did we begin and have we made a difference?

Choose Life (suicide prevention work) itself was an example of something ‘flourishing’, first of all you plant the seed – we raised awareness. Then we propagated it by underpinning activity across all communities including training, building the knowledge base of what works, engaging more and more people in the task. A root system has been formed which is robust. This will allow for further growth and development.

Rates are beginning to come down – there has been a 13% reduction since the launch of the strategy. This is very encouraging.

The encouraging signs are reflected across the entire National Programme. So what would I wish to see in the future?:

  • consolidation of what has already begun
  • continuous improvement of the knowledge base of what works
  • we really need to succeed in getting over the importance of how mental health impacts on efficiency in the workplace, improved educational outcomes etc, so my final future action would be to continue to effect a cultural change in the Scot’s understanding of mental health as a key driver for economic and social change.