Suicide Awareness Prevention Training Event

On Friday 26^th October, the Young Carer support group, Labelled, put on it’s first major event. It was a Suicide Awareness Prevention Training Event. We would like to thank Carers Action for supporting the venture, Suicide Awareness for presenting and facilitating it and Leicester Police for generously providing both the venue and the refreshments for the day.

Suicide is a very serious and emotive subject, and on the face of it there is not much space for levity or optimism, but this event is far from downbeat .

We were thrilled to be able to welcome contingents from the Samaritans, Leicestershire Police and the Mental Health Service as well as representatives of the third sector support services, service users and carers.

The event fell into two parts, separated by lunch and a chance to network and meet like-minded individuals involved in either providing or receiving support for mental illnesses.

The first session concentrated mainly on the types of groups and individuals whose lives and circumstances make them high risk for suicide, as well as a discussion on the pressures, which combine to make them high risk. The second half looked at coping strategies to help to minimise the risk to individuals and groups as well as techniques to help them through the crisis. This ended with an in depth analysis of a number of case studies.

The day ended with a presentation by Leicestershire Police on the emotive and destructive subject of hate crime, stressing that anyone who is suffering from abuse or harassment to any level is a victim of a hate incident, and they should report it to the Police. The Police themselves will then deal with the complaint and assess whether it is a hate crime or hate incident, whatever their conclusion they will treat it with equal seriousness.

The key message from the day is that everyone involved in providing support for mental illness, and for individuals in crisis, is that all of the service providers are keen to work together for the best interests of the individual and their families. For those of us involved in these conditions, this is tremendously encouraging. For those who have been personally affected by Suicide, in whatever way, it was really heartening to see the compassion and support shown by the members of the Police force, as well as members of the other service providers.

The Young Carers from Labelled worked tirelessly in the lead up to the event making a range of attractive “thoughfulness” gifts which were sold on the day from the Labelled stand, and raised, along with the very generous donations of the audience an incredible £147 for the group.

The day ended with a number of people releasing Samaritans balloons into increasing cloudy sky, in memory of those who had been lost by their own hands.

Everyone present found the day both memorable and uplifting, not only empowering us to know we can make a difference to people in crisis, but also to see the tremendous support and empathy from all of the professional services present.

Once again, Labelled would like to thank everyone who took the time to come to the event, and especially to the groups who support the promotion of the event, Leicestershire Police, Suicide Awareness and Carers’ Action