A COUNCIL is hiring a new mental health officer to help address above-average suicide rates reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Essex County Council is offering £37,500 for a public mental health and suicide prevention officer.

The successful applicant would work in the north east of the county, where in Tendring and Colchester, the suicide rate was significantly above the England average.

Coroners have previously criticised mental health services in the county.

The job advertisement read: “Suicide rates in some parts of Essex have historically been higher than the national average, so this role presents a real opportunity for the right candidate to make a difference.”

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, 13.8 people for every 100,000 in Tendring took their life each year between 2019-2021, and 15 per 100,000 in Colchester.

The average figure for England was 10.6 during that period.

NHS England’s former national clinical director for mental health, Dr Geraldine Strathdee OBE, is leading a statutory inquiry looking into the deaths of “up to” 2,000 people who were cared for by the Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust between 2000 and 2020.