A report from The Office of National Statistics in May 2022 looked at suicide rates among higher education students between the academic year ending in 2017 up to the year ending in 2020. The suicide rate stood at 3 deaths per 100,000 students in 2020 – the lowest rate across the four years. That statistic is also significantly lower than the general population of the same age, which is 2.7 times that figure.

However, even though rates are relatively low, these tragedies still happen. And they’re still alarmingly high among young male students – 5.6 deaths per 100,000 students, or 202 suicide deaths per year.

It means higher education organisations need to make suicide prevention a priority. And R;pple is a free online tool every university and college in the UK should be using.

Popping up at just the right time

R;pple is a pop-up that shows up when people search harmful content, signposting them over to 24/7 free, mental health support.

It triggers for key search phrases related to suicide and self-harm. And before the person gets to their search results, R;pple’s pop-up appears, giving people hope when they’re at their most vulnerable.

R;pple doesn’t capture any personal information – it just connects people to their mental health charity partners and gives them several ways to contact them. Including over the phone, via text, a webchat, or a self-help tool.

Showing help is always on hand

Alice Hendy founded R;pple after losing her brother Josh to suicide when he was only 21. Alice later learned Josh had researched ways to take his life on the internet leading up to his death in 2020. She discovered the only mental health service that would’ve showed up when he was searching was a phone line.

But many people in these moments don’t always have the strength and confidence to pick up the phone. So she started R;pple to make sure more people can both access support when they need it most, and choose a format of communication they feel comfortable with.

R;pple is completely free for schools, colleges, sixth forms, and universities – and this is a rallying cry for all our higher education clients to make sure they’ve installed R;pple’s pop-up across their network. Head over to R;pple’s site to get started.

Support the Charlie Watkins Foundation

Alice and R;pple’s story is one that connects with us even more so at RMP. We’ve long been a supporter of the Charlie Watkins Foundation – a charity set up to support young people struggling with mental health and wellbeing.

Aside from the initiatives and charities they partner with, the foundation’s been particularly active in the higher education sector. They even launched an online mental health support service in partnership with the University of Essex called ‘Chat with Charlie’. Get their full story on their website and explore the many ways you can get involved.

Sources

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/

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