Supporting Scotland’s national suicide prevention mission.
Suicide Prevention Scotland needed a new national digital platform to unify communication across Scotland’s suicide prevention initiatives. The challenge was to design and build a website that could serve multiple audiences, the public, practitioners and partner organisations while ensuring sensitivity, accessibility and trust.
Existing channels were fragmented and inconsistent, with information spread across different agencies and local partnerships. The new website had to act as a central hub for campaigns, resources and data while aligning with Scotland’s wider public health and mental wellbeing strategies.
The key objective was to empower people to find help quickly, promote open discussion and strengthen collaboration between organisations working to prevent suicide across the country.
Ember approached the project with a user-first and lived experience driven design philosophy, ensuring the site was both accessible and emotionally sensitive.
We carried out user research and co-design sessions with public health representatives, local authorities and third-sector organisations. This ensured the platform’s content and structure reflected real-world user needs, from individuals seeking help to professionals coordinating services.
The website was built using a headless Statamic CMS, to deliver flexibility and ease of content management. Accessibility was a core requirement, and the platform fully adheres to WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
To encourage collaboration, we created secure content areas for partners and local groups, enabling the sharing of best practices, campaign materials and resources across Scotland’s suicide prevention network.
Performance and reliability were delivered through Net Zero, ISO 27001 compliant hosting, ensuring both environmental responsibility and data security.
The new Suicide Prevention Scotland website has become the central digital presence for suicide prevention efforts in Scotland, offering an empathetic, inclusive and trusted space for both citizens and professionals.
It has improved visibility for campaigns such as United to Prevent Suicide, streamlined access to local and national support services and provided a consistent voice across Scotland’s suicide prevention network.
By combining user-led design, accessibility and robust digital infrastructure, the platform supports the national ambition to reduce suicide rates and build a culture of compassion and understanding.
The result is more than a website, it’s a digital foundation for Scotland’s collective effort to save lives.
