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New campaign and training for World Suicide Prevention Day

Lets talk about suicide essex logo

Health and care partners across mid and south Essex have launched a new suicide prevention campaign offering FREE online training to everyone.

The #LetsTalkSuicideEssex campaign and the online suicide prevention training is being launched as part of World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) on the 10 September. It has been created by the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership and Thurrock and Brentwood Mind, to reduce the stigma around talking about suicide and raise awareness of suicide prevention training available FREE to ALL from the Zero Suicide Alliance at https://letstalkaboutsuicideessex.co.uk.

The training focuses on three key elements - See, Say, Signpost.  See the problem, Say the words, Signpost to support. It gives people the knowledge and the confidence to talk to someone who might be at risk of or thinking about suicide.  Therefore, we want individuals and companies to log onto our website and take the training.  A FREE 20-minute video that could help save a life!

Dr Caroline Dollery, Clinical Lead and Chair of Mental Health sub-committee at Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership, said: ‘This campaign and the fantastic online training from Zero Suicide Alliance will help us to help residents across mid and south Essex and beyond to have the confidence to know how to talk and support someone who is at risk, how to spot the signs, what to say and how to say it.

Every year as part of World Suicide Prevention Day on the 10 September, organisations and communities around the world come together to raise awareness of how we can create a world where fewer people die by suicide. Each year has a different theme and focus, to bring to light a specific aspect of suicide prevention and this year the focus is on Creating Hope Through Action’.

Essex residents will be able to be a part of World Suicide Prevention Day by doing the training or taking part in activities throughout September. They can find out what is happening and share the message, by following the hashtags #WSPDEssex and #LetsTalkSuicideEssex on social media and retweeting to their own followers.

Get involved and together we can prevent suicide. Know what to look for and what to say by taking our suicide prevention training.

In 2020, the world was hit with an unexpected pandemic and it has affected mental health more than ever - new rules and restrictions meant changes to everyone's lives.

Learning to manage home schooling, working from home, furlough, unpaid leave, job loss, changes to finances, not seeing family and friends, missing loved ones, missing birthdays and celebrations, isolation, bereavements and ill health, took its toll on every single one of us differently.

Throughout the pandemic national Mind didn't stop, we were busier than ever, we took over 119,000 phone calls from people in crisis and had over 18 million visits to our website. 

The truth is suicide continues to rise, in fact suicidal thoughts affect thousands of people every day more now than ever.

Suicide is the leading cause of death in men under 50, that means more men die of suicide than cancer, heart attack, heart disease or in car accidents every year and suicide in women in their early 20s is the highest it’s been for two decades.  Before COVID-19 in Essex alone, 111 people lost their lives to suicide in 2019 and around the UK a life is lost every 2 hours to suicide.

We want to encourage people to talk about their feelings and emotions and for people not to be scared to ask the questions to loved ones or colleagues.

Nadine Winiberg, Engagement Lead, Suicide Prevention Training said: 'Talking about suicide with someone you feel may be struggling may just save their life.  Saying the words to someone may seem scary but it is important to be direct and open, saying the word does not put the thought in someone's head. With this training we hope to highlight the importance of recognising those early signs of someone who may be feeling suicidal or having suicidal thoughts.'

Every life lost is one too many.  What if the conversation you had with someone was their last?  You may only get one opportunity to save a life.  

If you are a business and would like your company to get involved and take the training please visit our website, https://letstalkaboutsuicideessex.co.uk/

Please contact suicideprevention@tbmind.org.uk where we can guide you through every step of the FREE training. 

If you’re feeling suicidal and need urgent help or if you’re worried about someone you know, help is available from the services below:

Please dial NHS 111 and select option 2 if you are experiencing a mental health crisis and you live in mid and south Essex. You will be connected to the contact centre where trained staff will provide appropriate support and advice 24 hours a day/365 days of the year.