Making Gloucestershire a suicide-safer community

ON WORLD Suicide Prevention day last month; Gloucestershire announced a five year strategy to reduce the number of local suicides after figures in Gloucestershire indicated that 11.5 people per 100,000 die by suicide, compared to the national average of 8.8 per 100,000 (three year average, 2011-2013).

Already, many local organisations have introduced new schemes or services to contribute towards this target which included a re-launch of the Stay Alive app a free suicide prevention pocket resource, packed full of useful information to help users stay safe which is licensed by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust.

Now Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon have included a Suicide safeTALK course within their CPD courses which is open to anyone over the age of 15 (not just qualified counsellors) who want to become a suicide-alert helper. Kimberley Wall, Service Development Manager at Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon says that;

“We have decided to offer the Suicide safeTALK course to increase the chances of Gloucestershire becoming a suicide-safer community. Our local aim should be to have at least one suicide-alert helper in every organisation, workplace, church and school so that early signs of suicidal behaviour are more likely to be identified.

The course is based on the notion that invitations for help are usually overlooked, maybe because we believe only professionals could help in these situations but the reality is that whoever is present at the time is who will make the difference between life and death. This half day course will give more people in the community the confidence and tools to become alert to the dangers of suicide and signpost vulnerable people in the right direction”.

The course is on October 27, in Stroud and costs £60 to attend.

There are limited spaces available so in order to reserve your place please contact Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon by email gloswin.desk@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01242 521215 for a booking form.

You can also visit their website on relateglos.co.uk/cpd-courses.html for more information.

Suicide safeTALK is owned and delivered by LivingWorks, a world leader in suicide intervention training.