This is preventable.
Emergency services personnel are dying by suicide. It is not rare, and it is not isolated to one service or region. It is systemic.
27%
More than one in four emergency services staff and volunteers had contemplated taking their own lives due to stress and poor mental health while working for the emergency services.
92%
had experienced stress, low mood and poor mental health at some point while working for the emergency services.
63%
had contemplated leaving their job or voluntary role because of stress or poor mental health.
Response times. Sickness days. Incidents attended. All counted.
Deaths by suicide among emergency services personnel are not consistently recorded anywhere in the UK.
- No single source of truth
- No clear accountability
- No responsibility for services to act
The absence of data does not mean the absence of the problem. It means the scale is not understood, and neither is how to deal with it. What gets counted gets managed.
100+
police officer and staff suicides known since 2022. Forces are not required to record suicide.
The greatest risk is not in the moment of crisis. It is in what follows.
- Repeated exposure, with limited opportunity to process or recover, leads to cumulative strain over time.
- It is carried quietly: between shifts, after incidents, away from immediate support.
- Support systems are often reactive. They engage late, if at all.
- Cultural expectations across services discourage early help-seeking.
- Support, where it exists, may not feel accessible, relevant or safe to use.
46%
said someone would be treated differently, in a negative way, if they disclosed a mental health problem at their organisation.
Exposure is high, awareness is low, and speaking up carries a cost.
Ambulance
80%
of ambulance personnel said their organisation does not encourage staff to talk openly about mental health.
Fire
37%
of fire and rescue personnel thought colleagues would be treated differently, in a negative way, if they disclosed a mental health problem at work.
Police
Over 2 in 3
police officers and staff with symptoms consistent with PTSD or complex PTSD were unaware of it. One in five of those exposed to trauma reported symptoms.
Data on HM Coastguard and search and rescue is even more limited. That gap is part of the problem.
These deaths are not inevitable.
People do not go from fine to crisis overnight. There are points where someone could be reached: a quiet change in behaviour, a conversation that does not happen, a moment where someone chooses not to speak.
Services are not consistently there at those points. That is where we need to be.
You do not have to be at breaking point to reach out.
Silence Between Sirens is not a crisis service. These lines are free and there for you now.