Despite the challenges of delivering training and engaging with partners through the Covid-19 pandemic, since the start of the campaign in February 2020, over 11,000 people have completed free suicide prevention training provided by the Zero Suicide Alliance at www.talksuicide.co.uk
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 5,691 suicides registered in England and Wales in 2019, with Yorkshire and the Humber seeing the highest rates of suicide in both men and women across the country. The #TalkSuicide suicide prevention training enables local individuals across Humber, Coast and Vale to be better placed to SPOT the signs, SPEAK to them in a supportive manner and know how to SIGNPOST them to the most appropriate services.
The #TalkSuicide campaign continued to go from strength to strength throughout the pandemic and the campaign is now well established as a key suicide prevention campaign in the region – so much that our campaign has also attracted interest from other ICS’s across the UK and other partners are wishing to replicate our work.
Even throughout a global pandemic, the training has been accessed regularly and thanks to extensive promotion in all areas of HCV via our partner organisations, the number of people completing the training has continued to rise. The majority of the training has been completed online, and throughout the last year, the team adapted to be able to deliver the training online via Zoom / Teams. Training has been delivered to organisations such as Humberside Fire and Rescue, Humberside Police, GP’s across the local area as well as volunteers supporting our work.
Since the start of the campaign, a total of 11,265 people have completed #TalkSuicide training, free of charge, through online workshops, or at face-to-face events held before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. This equates to 23 people completing the training every day. Overall, over 17,000 visited the website, with almost 40,000 individual website sessions.
Organisations to have offered #TalkSuicide training to their staff include Humberside Fire & Rescue Service; Hull-based companies KWL and Kexgill Group; East Yorkshire’s Hull Collegiate School and Premier Modular; Millers Fish and Chips in York; and Scunthorpe’s Bradbury Group.
Thank you to every individual and businesses who has been involved and who continue to support #TalkSuicide. Knowing that so many people in our region have completed the training over the past 12 months is great motivation as we continue to work to prevent suicides in our communities.
We want to train as many people as possible so if you’re interested in completing free suicide prevention training, or if you know of an employer who may be interested in offering suicide prevention training to their staff, please visit www.talksuicide.co.uk to find out more. Please click here to read our most recent #TalkSuicide media releases.
Take the training. Save a life. #TalkSuicide