Whitehaven community-led mental health and addiction support targets high death rates

Whitehaven, a town in West Cumbria, is at the centre of a community-led effort to reduce high rates of suicide and drug-related deaths. The area has been shaped by decades of industrial decline, and local people say the loss of coal and chemical industry jobs has left deep social and mental health problems. Between 2022 and 2024, the suicide rate in the area was the third highest in England. Drug-related deaths were also the third highest in England over the same period.

At Hope Haven, a walking facility in the centre of town, staff aim to reach people before they reach crisis point. The project is led in part by people with lived experience of mental health and addiction problems. Mike, a 45-year-old single dad, has a diagnosis of CPDSD from childhood trauma. He has attempted to end his life four times. He now works for Hope Haven and says supporting others is part of his purpose. He once stopped a man from trying to take his own life, saying he could see the man was distressed and would not leave him.

Mike links his work to older Cumbrian traditions of looking after the person beside you, a habit he traces to coal mining days when workers depended on each other for safety. He says the area's industrial factories once provided large incomes, but privatisation in the 1980s and 1990s took away the work and the industry. The person remained, he says, but with more issues.

One man Mike supports is Derek, who has faced depression and the stigma attached to opening up. Derek says men in the area are still expected to drink beer and play rugby, and that mental health and weakness are not discussed. He had worked with professionals before but felt more able to speak about his depression with Mike, who has been through similar experiences.

Sue, who was born and raised in Whitehaven, leads chair-based exercise classes at Hope Haven. She has seen the town decline from a thriving place and says mental health problems now feel almost endemic. She knows 15 to 20 people who have taken their own lives, including the children of friends and the son of a woman she worked with, who was in junior school. Sue says those losses drive her to try to prevent more deaths and to let people know what support is available. She also takes her work into the community, including on walks with her dog, and says local knowledge is a major advantage. The local council has been supportive, she adds.

Paul Sloan, another Hope Haven worker, battled drug and drink problems for nearly three decades. He realised he had a problem when it was already too late, and he became poorly both physically and mentally. His children motivated him to get clean, a process he says took about 28 years. He now tries to carry a message of hope to people in recovery. He says people connecting with someone who has been there breaks down barriers and helps them integrate back into society. One person he has worked with, Tony, had been sober for 138 days after a relapse that had disastrous consequences.

Substance abuse is one of the issues contributing to poor mental health in the area. Between 2022 and 2024, drug-related deaths in the area were the third highest in England. Local services are also seeing signs of change. Between January and May of this year, there was a 30% drop in people attending A&E in the area due to self-harm, and 15% fewer people attended A&E with mental health issues.

The effort in Whitehaven is small and local, but those involved say it is focused on reaching people early and using shared experience to break a cycle of crisis. They describe Whitehaven as a beautiful place that carries many demons, and they argue that the people who know the area, its struggles and its people are best placed to help.