Kartlegging av arbeidet med selvmord, selvmordsforsøk, overdoser og selvskading i kommunalt psykisk helse- og rusarbeid i perioden 2015–2022

Abstract

Since the escalation plan for mental health (1999-2008), researchers in Sintef on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate of Health have followed the municipalities' work with mental health, and from 2015 the substance abuse services were also included. For the past eight years (2015-2022), questions about the municipalities' work with suicide, overdoses and self-harm has been included in the annual data collections, and this article presents the results. The topics include the municipalities' establishment of written routines, how the services are involved after suicide attempts, use of guidelines, care for relatives and whether they take measures to improve their competence in suicide prevention. The results show that some municipalities have come a long way, while others have a longer way to go to get plans, routines, and procedures in place. Municipalities must increase the competence of their employees on these topics and improve cooperation with the specialist health services. Although many point to scarce resources, it is not likely that the municipalities will have many more employees available in the years to come. Thus, it is important to organize the services effectively and establish interdisciplinary teams and utilize the professional expertise that exists in the municipalities across the services. It is a major challenge for the municipalities to strengthen the prevention effort while they simultaneously provide necessary help to service users with severe and chronic mental disorders and/or substance abuse problems with complex needs.