Arya News - Recognising early warning signs and connecting people to professional support can play a critical role in preventing suicide, according to the PEMA Secretariat.
THIMPHU – Recognising early warning signs and connecting people to professional support can play a critical role in preventing suicide, according to the PEMA Secretariat.
Signs such as expressed hopelessness, talking about ending one’s life, overwhelming emotional pain, social withdrawal and drastic changes in mood should not be ignored. The Secretariat encourages people who notice such signs to guide those in distress to the PEMA Helpline 1098 or other professional support services.
The Secretariat has provided postvention support to more than 200 families affected by suicide over the past two and a half years.
According to the Secretariat, 303 people died by suicide between 2023 and 2025, an average of about 100 deaths a year. Almost half of the cases involved people aged between 25 and 50, accounting for 48.8 percent.
The leading contributing factors were mental health issues at 18.8 percent, alcohol use at 16.2 percent and family difficulties at 13.2 percent.
The national suicide rate has declined from a baseline of 14.6 to 12.4 per 100,000 population. The Secretariat described the decline as an early gain towards the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing the suicide rate to below 9.8 per 100,000 by 2030.
The PEMA Secretariat spokesperson said suicide and mental health challenges are rarely caused by a single factor. Rather, they often result from a combination of interconnected health, social and economic factors.
“For individuals in acute distress, robust and accessible immediate-response systems must exist to address their urgent needs,” the spokesperson said.
The PEMA Helpline 1098 operates 24 hours a day and provides confidential mental health and psychosocial support. It also facilitates support calls and mobilises necessary services for people requiring immediate assistance.
The Secretariat is also strengthening the capacity of the mental health workforce by training health workers and community mental health workers in crisis management and service delivery.
Prevention beyond treatment
The Secretariat said suicide prevention requires more than responding to people in crisis and must include long-term and systemic interventions across sectors.
In collaboration with health services, maternal mental health screening has been integrated into maternal and child health services to identify and address stress among expectant mothers and provide referrals where necessary.
Health workers are also being trained through in-service programmes and pre-service modules on mental health promotion and suicide prevention, with a focus on early identification and management. The programme is being expanded across all dzongkhags.
In partnership with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, the Secretariat is implementing wellbeing strategies in schools. These include awareness programmes, resilience building, screening, mentoring, management and referral services. The programmes are also being reviewed and strengthened to ensure they remain relevant to the Bhutanese context.
Pilot programmes are underway to support the mental health of older adults through engagement activities and caregiver training.
The Secretariat said mental health needs are constantly changing, requiring continuous analysis of emerging trends and development of practical and context-specific interventions.
It also stressed that effective suicide prevention requires collaboration among the government, private sector and civil society, with communities playing an important role in creating supportive environments and connecting people with formal services.
A national responsibility
Looking ahead, the PEMA Secretariat spokesperson said mental health should not be viewed as the responsibility of the PEMA Secretariat or the health sector alone.
“The most important change we need is to recognise that mental health cannot be the responsibility of the PEMA or the health sector alone. It is a national responsibility, and we need to come together as a whole society,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson referred to Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen’s call that mental health should receive the national priority it deserves, saying the commitment should encourage the country to recognise mental health as fundamental to the wellbeing and future of Bhutan.
The Secretariat said greater investment, stronger specialised services, better community-based care and improved data are needed. However, it stressed that these efforts must also be better coordinated.
Education, labour, local governments, law enforcement, civil society organisations, workplaces, families, communities and the media all have a role to play in mental health promotion and suicide prevention.
For children and young people, schools and families are often the first to notice changes in behaviour or wellbeing. Workplaces and communities can provide early support to adults, while the health system provides treatment and families, communities and social services support recovery and reintegration.
Suicide and substance-use prevention also require coordinated action across sectors, the Secretariat said.
The PEMA Secretariat’s role is to connect these efforts, strengthen referral and support pathways, and ensure that people do not fall through gaps in the system.
The Secretariat said Bhutan also needs to move beyond viewing mental health only through the treatment of illness, and place greater emphasis on prevention, wellbeing, resilience, social connection and supportive environments.
“If we come together, with government providing leadership, professionals providing expertise, communities providing support, and families providing compassion, we can create a society where people feel safe to speak, seek help early and support one another,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said suicide prevention ultimately requires collective responsibility to protect wellbeing, prevent suffering and provide support to people in distress.
“Ultimately, this is about building a Bhutan where no one has to struggle alone,” the spokesperson said.
September 10 is observed as suicide prevention day, every year.