Daniel Tilley — Mental Health, Suicide, and EMS Response
Quantifying the burden of mental health crises in Western Cape EMS data.
Emergency Medical Services are frequently the first point of contact for individuals experiencing acute mental health crises. Daniel Tilley, an Emergency Care Practitioner with Western Cape Government Health and Wellness EMS, brings a research-focused perspective to this reality. His work quantifies the significant burden of mental health-related calls — particularly those involving deliberate self-harm (DSH), suicidality, and suicide — within a specific South African context.
Key research findings
Tilley's research, "Emergency Medical Service responses as latent social capital toward deliberate self-harm, suicidality and suicide", examined three years of EMS data from a rural Western Cape district. The findings were stark:
A high volume of mental health-related calls were identified. Approximately 60% of these calls involved DSH, attempted suicide, or completed suicide. Overdose / deliberate self-poisoning was the most frequent method of DSH (52% of the DSH caseload in one analysis). Men were more likely to die by suicide, with strangulation a common method.
Implications for EMS personnel and systems
The high frequency of exposure has profound implications for the mental health and well-being of paramedics themselves. Tilley's research underscores the need for enhanced response capabilities, greater investment in broader mental health resources, and recognition of EMS data as latent social capital for understanding and addressing public health issues like suicide.
This study demonstrates the EMS “everyday” exposure to DSH, suicidality and suicide caseload. It represents a critical first step in the problem-space.
— Tilley et al., 2023
