College staff among first to benefit from suicide prevention training

Staff at a Midlands college group have been among the first to complete early suicide prevention training delivered by a leading regional mental health charity.

More than 70 staff at WCG (Warwickshire College Group) have completed the training delivered by South Warwickshire and Worcestershire Mind (SWWMind).

SWWMind has received funding from the Government’s Suicide Prevention Fund to deliver this early suicide prevention training to schools and communities in South Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The training series was delivered as a mixture of online and in-person sessions and offered to staff at the six colleges which are part of WCG, including Royal Leamington Spa College, Warwick Trident College, Rugby College, Moreton Morrell College, Pershore College and Evesham New College.

It saw staff take part in a six-hour workshop which taught them to look after their own wellbeing, as well as supporting colleagues and students.

They were trained to recognise early signs of mental health distress, how to support those individuals and how to best initiate conversations around suicide.

Emily Halderthay, of SWWMind, said:

“As part of our bid for funding for the programme, we identified a clear need in the region for suicide prevention support. The statistics are going in the wrong direction nationally but even more so regionally.

“Young people are one of the high priority groups. We are early intervention experts at SWWMind, and we want to be able to identify any issues before they escalate to a crisis point.”

She said the course involved lots of interactive and role-playing scenarios, adding: “These exercises shed light on active listening and what triggers might be a warning sign.” Participants were also advised on how to have an initial conversation about suicidal thoughts.

Judith Abbott, Specialist Support Lead for Mental Health at WCG, said: “This training is really important for our staff and will enable them to make the right decisions and give impactful advice when speaking to colleagues or students.

“We want WCG to be a community not worried about having those conversations and our staff to be equipped to intervene early if they identify any early signs of suicide.”

To find out more about mental health support at WCG visit https://wcg.ac.uk/ page/1666/mental-health-support