Suicide Prevention in your Workplace

Suicide is a major public health problem in Ireland. Up to 500 people complete suicide each year - that’s more deaths than are caused by road traffic accidents.

Workplaces are an ideal setting in which to recognise someone at risk of suicide and intervene in preventing suicide occurring.

Rehab offers three world-renowned suicide awareness and intervention skills training packages for the workplace.

Benefits to your Organisation

The benefits of implementing suicide awareness and intervention training in your workplace are substantial.

Not only will you be contributing to the overall suicide prevention effort, you will be making every effort to ensure that staff at risk of suicide in your workplace are identified and given the support they require, thereby helping to prevent the devastation that occurs when someone dies by suicide.



Suicide Talk

Suicide TALK is a short awareness programme that can be delivered to all employees to ensure that they are aware of the issues around suicide.

Suicide TALK is an exploration of the question ‘Should we talk about suicide?’ By looking at this question in a number of different ways, participants may discover some of their beliefs and ideas about suicide and those of their community. Participants also examine the range of things they can do to help prevent suicide.

Programme Aim

Suicide TALK is aimed at all members of the community. Its goal is to help make direct, open and honest talk about suicide easier.

Proposed Outcomes/Benefits

Talking openly about suicide may:

• Encourage life protection, preservation and promotion activities
• Facilitate community awareness of suicide as a serious community health problem
• Reduce the stigma and taboo surrounding suicide
• Increase personal commitment to, and action in, preventing suicide
• Support the spread of training opportunities and networking activities

Duration: 1 - 3 hours

No. of participants: 30

Location: Delivered on-site to employees by an ASIST-trained facilitator

Asist

ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a two-day training package and is the recognised best practice model in terms of suicide intervention skills training.
ASIST is the only programme of the three that equips participants with the skills to intervene when suicide has been identified as a risk in individuals.

Programme Aim

This programme aims to equip participants with the knowledge, ability and confidence to carry out suicide first aid intervention.

Proposed Outcomes/Benefits

Participants will have the ability and confidence to:

• Recognise the warning signs of suicidal behaviour
• Ask about suicide
• Help the person at risk of suicide contemplate the reasons for living and reasons for dying
• Review the risk of suicide
• Contract a “safe plan” with a person at risk of suicide

Duration: 2 days

No. of participants: 24

Location: Delivered by two ASIST-trained facilitators on and off-site depending on the number of interested participants

Safe Talk

Safe TALK is a programme that teaches participants how to recognise people with thoughts of suicide and how to link them with suicide intervention resources, e.g. people who are trained in the ASIST programme.



Programme Aim

Safe TALK is designed to ensure that persons with thoughts of suicide are linked with helpers who are able and prepared to provide suicide first aid interventions. Safe TALK is designed to be used in organisations and communities where there are already ASIST-trained care-givers.

Proposed Outcomes/Benefits

As a Safe TALK-trained suicide alert helper, participants will be better able to:

• Move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss or avoid suicide
• Identify people who have thoughts of suicide
• Apply the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen and KeepSafe) to link a person with suicidal thoughts to people who are trained in the suicide first aid course, ASIST

Duration: 2.5 - 3.5 hours

No. of participants: 30

Location: Delivered on-site to employees by a Safe TALK-trained facilitator

If you are interested in attending one of these courses, please submit your details here.

For more information on this course please email workplace@headsup.ie

All of the courses have been developed and evaluated by Living Works, Canada. These training programmes are being delivered throughout the world as part of national suicide prevention strategies.