How Storm training aligns with NHS England's Staying Safe from Suicide Guidance
On the 4th of April 2025, NHS England published new guidance on suicide risk assessment:
"Staying Safe from Suicide: Best practice guidance for safety assessment, formulation and management"
The guidance outlines 10 key principles aimed at improving suicide prevention efforts.
This blog will:
- Emphasise the importance of moving towards a more inclusive and supportive system, where practitioners collaborate to address the unique needs of each individual
- Explore the potential improvements in mental health services that this guidance can bring
- Demonstrate how the Storm Skills Training package aligns with these principles
Before reading the blog:
This report mentions topics related to self-harm and suicide which may potentially lead to distress. Before you read the guidance, check in with yourself. How are you feeling today? If you were negatively impacted or affected, who would you contact for support? Support is available from Samaritans, for free, 24/7. Phone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.uk.
About the Guidance
The new guidelines highlight best practices for safety assessment, formulation, and management, supporting the government's efforts to reduce suicide and improve mental health services.
Importantly, it advocates for a significant shift towards a more holistic, person-centred, and collaborative approach, moving away from traditional checklists and risk stratification.
This aligns with the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2023) and the Culture of care standards for mental health inpatient services (2024).
All NHS-commissioned services have been asked to adopt the principles in this new guidance, with strong encouragement for private and third-sector practitioners to adopt the same approach.
Every day, 17 people die by suicide in the UK, with five of those individuals in contact with mental health services.
Over many years, services and practice have evolved to assess suicide risk using suicide prediction tools, scales and stratified risk levels.
The evidence is clear that these approaches aren’t accurate.
Understanding the reason for the shift
Suicide prediction tools, scales, and stratification methods are flawed due to the highly changeable nature of suicidal impulses. (Source: NHS England)
Of those five, 80% are assessed as ‘low’ or ‘no’ risk at their last contact. (Source: NHS England)
Research consistently shows that risk assessment tools and scales are inaccurate at predicting self-harm or suicide, sometimes with error rates as high as 95%. These tools are often used inconsistently or in a 'checklist' way, which can be experienced by service users as impersonal and unhelpful. Poor experiences of assessment can negatively impact both help-seeking and the risk of suicide. (Source: Scales for predicting risk following self-harm: an observational study in 32 hospitals in England)
Collaborative risk management
The new Staying Safe from Suicide guidelines recommend a collaborative approach to risk management, focusing on understanding changeable safety factors and co-producing safety plans. This approach, which builds on NICE Guideline: NG225, calls for nuanced, relational care rather than static risk categories. Practitioners and organisations should eliminate outdated practices that have become embedded in the system and replace them with the approaches set out within this guidance.
Storm Skills Training's alignment with the 10 key principles
Storm Skills Training has over 30 years of experience developing and delivering high-quality, evidence-based suicide and self-harm assessment training.
Version 5 of our training package incorporates the latest research, evidence, best practices, and lived experience insights, and aligns with the new NHS England guidelines, NICE Guidelines, and Health Education England (HEE) Framework.
Key Principle 1: Relational safety
Build and maintain trusting, collaborative therapeutic
relationships. These are the strongest predictor of good clinical
outcomes.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill Set 1: Communication and a collaborative approach. This skill set forms the foundation of our training. It includes core skills that promote the development of a trusting, collaborative therapeutic relationship.
Key Principle 2: Biopsychosocial approach
Address safety as part of a broad biopsychosocial approach aimed
at improving overall well-being by considering biological,
psychological and social aspects
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill Set 2: Assessment - a psychosocial perspective. Exploring biological, psychological, and social needs and strengths across time.
Key Principle 3: Safety assessment & formulation
Reach a shared understanding with the individual about safety and
changeable factors that may affect this.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill Set 3: Assessment of suicide and self-harm. Gaining a detailed understanding of self-harm and suicidal thoughts and their relationship to safety.
Skill Set 6: Collaborative formulation. Creating a holistic narrative across time that makes sense of the person's unique strengths and vulnerabilities, contributing to their
physical and emotional safety.
Key Principle 4: Safety management & planning
Consider the need for immediate action and work with the
individual to navigate safety and the factors impacting this over
time.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill Set 7: Safety planning. Explores immediate action for safety (short-term safety planning) and includes warning signs, coping, support from others, access to
methods, and professional support.
Key Principle 5: Dynamic understanding
Regularly assess and adapt formulations and safety plans based on
the individual’s changing needs and circumstances.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill set 8: Working with barriers to recovery. Focusing on reviewing assessments, formulation, and safety plans with a focus on the context now, what’s changed, what hasn’t, and are things getting better or worse.
Key Principle 6: Evidence-based practice
Base work on the latest research and understand population-level
risk trends.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Storm Skills Training Version 5 (V5) aligns with key national guidance and standards, including:
- NICE Guideline NG225 (Self-harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence)
- Health Education England Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Competence Framework
- NHS England Staying Safe from Suicide Guidance
- BS 30480: Suicide and the workplace by the UK’s national standards body, BSI
All courses delivered directly by Storm Skills Training hold CPD accreditation through The CPD Certification Service.
Our training includes population-level risk trends and helps participants to explore what they mean for the individual.
Key Principle 7: Involving others
Encourage the involvement of trusted others, where possible and
as appropriate.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Skill Set 4: Working towards sharing information. Working collaboratively with individuals to explore the benefits and barriers of sharing information with trusted people.
Skill Set 5: Supporting the support network. The importance of engaging the support network whenever possible and appropriate. It includes offering a compassionate and collaborative approach, gathering information, and offering
information and support.
Key Principle 8: Inclusivity
Ensure practices are inclusive and adaptable, particularly for
marginalised and high-risk groups.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Our content focuses on a person-centred, personalised approach, where we seek to understand the person, their unique context, and circumstances. Our training addresses inequality and healthcare access, and we ensure our training is inclusive and accessible.
Key Principle 9: Clear communication
Use simple language tailored to the individual and don’t use
jargon. Use interpreters or approaches like drawing, if needed.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
Our evidence-based training methodologies focus on communication skills – this is our strength and what we have been doing for over 30 years.
Our training is designed to be accessible, incorporating visual aids to enhance learning and support comprehension.
Key Principle 10: Continuous improvement
Regularly review and refine approaches based on outcomes and
feedback.
How Storm Skills Training meets this
One of our key values is continuous learning and improvement. Ongoing improvement helps maintain high standards of training quality. Our commitment ensures that participants receive the most up-to-date and comprehensive training, leading to better outcomes for individuals vulnerable to self-harm or suicide.
Our courses are designed to help your team enhance skills in engagement, holistic assessment, formulation, and personalised safety planning. We focus on meaningful conversations, ensuring that people have the skills, knowledge, and confidence to explore the root causes of distress, understand its impact, and work towards effective information sharing. We emphasise the importance of supporting the individual's network, understanding their unique circumstances, and implementing safety planning as an evidence-based intervention.
Person-centred care is at the core of our training, focusing on understanding, collaboration, and addressing unique needs. Lived experience research shows that people who self-harm or are suicidal value professionals who listen without judgment, are skilled, offer individualised care, and inspire hope. This approach improves engagement with services and treatment outcomes, leading to effective personalised plans that support long-term safety and wellbeing.
If you are looking to enhance your skills in line with the latest research, evidence, and best practices, including the new NHS guidance, ‘Staying Safe from Suicide,’ please reach out to us to discuss your training needs. We’d love to hear from you.
The need for system-wide collaboration
Although many practitioners have already adopted this approach, the success of these guidelines depends on collaboration across the entire mental health system, involving all practitioners in community and inpatient settings, as well as public, private, and voluntary sector providers. NHS-commissioned services should integrate these principles, and private and third-sector practitioners are urged to adopt the same practices.
For more information, visit the NHS England webpage, which includes summaries of key information and actions for implementation.
Webinar: "Staying Safe from Suicide: A Cross-Sector Approach"
We’re pleased to share the recording of our webinar: Staying Safe from Suicide – A cross-sector approach, which we released in July 2025.
This important resource explores the "Staying Safe from Suicide Guidance" published by NHS England in April 2025, which marks a significant shift away from suicide risk prediction towards a more human and compassionate approach.
The webinar is hosted by our CEO, Bianca Romanyk. Bianca had the privilege of recording a series of conversations and presentations with those involved in developing the guidance, as well as others from across the suicide prevention community, including academic researchers, individuals with lived experience, and professionals across sectors working to prevent suicide. Together, they explore key areas of the guidance, including safety assessment, formulation, and management. We also discuss the evidence base, practical implications across different settings, and how the guidance is being adopted by public, private, and voluntary sector providers, including independent practitioners.
Featured speakers include:
- Philip Pirie: Co-Chair, NHS England Writing Group – ‘Staying Safe from Suicide’ | Patient and Public Voice
- Seamus Watson: National Improvement Director, NHS England | Programme Lead, NHS England’s ‘Staying Safe from Suicide’ Guidance | Mental Health and General Nurse
- Professor Emeritus Keith Hawton CBE: Professor of Psychiatry and Emeritus Director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University
- Dr Karen Lascelles: Senior Lecturer for Mental Health Nursing, Oxford Brookes University
- Andy Langford: Clinical Director, Cruse Bereavement Care | Storm Skills Training Consultant
- Rosie Ellis: Executive Lead, National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA)
- Jess Worner: Lived Experience Network Manager – National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA)
We hope you find the webinar valuable in your work. A heartfelt thank you to all our speakers for generously sharing their insights, experiences, and expertise.
Acknowledging the efforts behind the guidance and the importance of collaboration
Storm Skills Training CIC would like to recognise and celebrate the collaborative nature of this guidance. It brought together individuals from across the system, including those with lived experience, academics, frontline experts, and clinicians, to create a co-produced document that represents a comprehensive and inclusive approach to suicide prevention.
This guidance is driven by evidence and the experiences of families, particularly the efforts of campaigner Philip Pirie, who tragically lost his son Tom to suicide in July 2020.
Philip co-chaired the writing group with Dr. Adrian Whittington of NHS England, dedicating his suicide prevention campaign to the memory of his son Tom. This guidance reflects the culmination of dedicated campaigning for reforming the system of suicide risk assessment. It is underpinned by the research of Professor Nav Kapur and colleagues involved in the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health and an approach to practice set out in the Lancet paper Assessment of suicide risk in mental health practice by Professor Keith Hawton, Dr Karen Lascelles, and their coauthors.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed their time and expertise to produce this guidance, benefiting the self-harm and suicide prevention community. By adopting this guidance, we can move towards a more compassionate and effective system of suicide prevention, ensuring that every individual receives the nuanced, relational care they deserve, ultimately helping to save more lives from self-harm and suicide.
If you would like to learn more about personalised risk management, you might be interested in our resource, Moving Towards Individualised Risk Management, which aims to provide guidance on adopting these evidence-based practices, as well as additional supportive resources.
If you and your team are looking to enhance your skills in line with the latest research, evidence, and best practice, including the new NHS Guidance, Staying Safe from Suicide, please reach out to us to discuss your training needs - we’d love to hear from you.
Further reading and resources
- NHS England: Staying Safe from Suicide Guidance
- Webinar - Staying Safe from Suicide: A cross-sector approach - resource by Storm Skills Training CIC
- Staying safe from suicide resource hub (FutureNHS site; requires login) includes resources to support practitioners and NHS, private, and third sector organisations.
- Storm Skills Training's alignment with the new NHS England guidance (flyer)
- National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2023)
- Moving Towards Individualised Risk Management - resource by Storm Skills Training CIC
- Culture of care standards for mental health inpatient services (2024)
- Psychosocial assessment following self-harm: A clinician’s guide
- What customers say about Version 5 of Storm Skills Training
If you need help and support, please reach out. Here are some options:
In the UK:
Samaritans
Phone: 116 123 (free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year) | jo@samaritans.org | samaritans.org
International:
International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP)
findahelpline.com/i/iasp
If you are looking to enhance your skills in self-harm and suicide prevention, please reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you.
