Over 6,500 people complete free suicide prevention training in Humber, Coast and Vale

The #TalkSuicide campaign encourages people to complete a free online suicide prevention training programme at talksuicide.co.uk. As part of the campaign, businesses are also encouraged to offer the training to their staff, with a range of free resources available online at talksuicide.co.uk/employers.

Since February 2020, 6,579 people have completed the training via the #TalkSuicide website, or during online workshops or at face-to-face events held before the coronavirus pandemic. This equates to one person trained every 79 minutes.

The campaign is led by the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, which consists of NHS organisations, local councils, health and care providers and voluntary and community organisations who are working together to improve the health and wellbeing of the 1.7 million people living in Humber, Coast and Vale – an area which includes the cities of Hull and York and large rural areas across East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.

Businesses who have offer this training to 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.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 5,691 suicides registered in England and Wales in 2019 – which amounts to around one death by suicide every 90 minutes.  Yorkshire and the Humber have the highest rates of suicide in both men and women across the country.

Jo Kent, Suicide Prevention Lead for the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, said: “I want to thank every individual and businesses who supported this campaign by completing the suicide prevention training during the last year. Knowing that more than 6,500 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.

“In Humber, Coast and Vale we are working collaboratively with a number of organisations, including local businesses, to prevent suicides from happening in our communities. The suicide prevention training is integral to this work as those who complete the training can make a real difference in their communities, by being better placed to identify those people who might be suffering from suicidal thoughts, knowing what to say to them in these circumstances, and signposting them to the most appropriate services.”