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Suicide awareness programme:

2.Support available and how to get involved

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    Emergency situations

    If you, or someone you know is in immediate risk from suicide, or crisis services are not available, call 999.

    Introduction

    Most conversations will not lead to crisis situations. Often, simply listening and showing care or speaking to someone can make a real difference. You are not expected to manage this alone.

    There are a range of internal and external support options and learning opportunities available to help.

    Internal support

    As well as talking to your manager or a trusted colleague, we have a network of trained Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) caregivers across the council. They are also known as suicide awareness mentors. They have completed the LivingWorks ASIST workshop and are able to:

    • provide a higher level of support
    • help develop individual safety plans
    • support someone who may be in crisis.

    You can contact them directly if you:

    • feel out of your depth
    • or someone else needs additional support
    • are unsure what to do next.

    Contact an ASIST caregiver/suicide awareness mentor

    ASIST caregivers, also known as suicide awareness mentors, offer support within their capacity and working hours.

    They are available during their normal working hours (generally Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, although some are part time) and when they have capacity.

    You can contact a caregiver by email or Teams chat. They are also happy to discuss with you through voice or video chat, just contact them to let them know you are calling first.

    The names and contact details of our volunteers are available in the list below.

    Become an ASIST caregiver/suicide awareness mentor

    If you’d like to become an ASIST caregiver/suicide awareness mentor, you can request to be added to the waiting list to complete the LivingWorks ASIST workshop.

    Become a connector

    If you’d like to become a connector to pass people on to further support or to a caregiver you need to complete the SafeTalk suicide awareness workshop.

    External support

    We have a variety of suicide related external resources available to support you or to signpost anyone to who maybe struggling. These include:

    • our employee assistance programme (EAP) partner Vivup 
    • Andy’s Man Club 
    • Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) 
    • Samaritans 
    • Papyrus 
    • Hub of Hope 
    • Health Minds and Young Healthy Minds. 
    View our suicide related health and wellbeing resources

    Learning opportunities

    If you would like to get involved and are interested in gaining an awareness or supporting others to help prevent suicide we have some learning opportunities, funded by Public Health, available to you.

    Search for suicide on our course finder
    Please note:

    Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, you should consider your own wellbeing and be willing to engage in discussion about suicide in a supportive and respectful learning environment. Support will be available during the session, if required.

    Search for SafeTALK on our course finder
    Email eryctraining.support@eastriding.gov.uk

    Let’s talk eLearning

    This eLearning course will take about 30 minutes and:

    • gives you an understanding of what you can do to help someone who is having suicidal thoughts
    • uses examples to demonstrate different situations
    • helps you to recognise the signs that someone may be suicidal, through a range of verbal and behavioural prompts
    • supports you to learn how to speak to someone who is having suicidal thoughts, and how to adjust your responses and questions based on their situation and mental state
    • signposts you to several resources that are available to pass on to someone who is having suicidal thoughts.

    You can complete this in your own time in one go or come back to it as much as you need to.

    Sign up

    If you’d like to sign up for the online course or find out more, apply on our course finder. This will then show in your eLearn dashboard.

    SafeTALK suicide awareness workshop

    You can get involved and learn how to support others by attending our staff led SafeTALK suicide awareness workshop. You don’t need to have any prior training or experience and will build on the Let’s talk eLearning course.

    The four-hour, face-to-face workshop aims to:

    • help you feel more confident in supporting someone who may be thinking about suicide and breaking the taboo around talking openly about it
    • show you what simple, practical steps you can take to help them stay safe
    • support you to ask directly about suicide in a clear, respectful way when signs of risk are present
    • show you how to listen with empathy and without judgement, using simple skills such as reflecting feelings and staying supportive
    • explain and recognise how personal attitudes and beliefs about suicide can affect whether and how they take action to receive help
    • identify suitable sources of support and explain how to help someone connect to further care to stay safe in the short term.

    Sign up

    If you’d like to sign up for an upcoming course or find out more, apply on our course finder.

    LivingWorks ASIST workshop

    The LivingWorks ASIST workshop is a two-day course led by external certified LivingWorks trainers and provides in-depth, practical intervention skills. You’ll learn through real conversations, group practice and shared reflection in a safe, supportive environment. It’s an experience that changes how you see your role in suicide prevention.

    You’ll learn how to:

    • build confidence to ask directly about suicide
    • listen with empathy and without judgment
    • explore personal attitudes and beliefs that affect your ability to help
    • engage directly with a person thinking about suicide
    • reduce immediate risk 
    • create a collaborative safety plan to help someone stay safe for now
    • connect them to further care and ongoing support.

    If you complete this workshop you can become a suicide awareness mentor or suicide first aid helper. More details about this will be shared at the workshop.

    Register your interest

    There isn’t a confirmed date yet for the next workshop. If you’d like to register your interest, we’ll contact you to let you know when the course will take place. You can:

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    Employee confidential helpline

    0330 380 0658

    Speak to fully qualified counsellors and support specialists at any time, 365 days a year.

    Use code 107574 to access the online resources.

    More about the employee assistance programme

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