The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) is delighted with today’s Government mental health announcement encouraging all NHS staff to take our suicide prevention training.
Prime Minister Theresa May MP has announced that all 1.2 million NHS staff will be encouraged to take the ZSA training, a free 20-minute training course developed using expertise from clinicians at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, the knowledge of those with real experience of suicide and leading e-learning training provider, Relias UK.
It follows a Government announcement last October pledging £2million in funding for “improving suicide awareness and training and the development of an innovative digital suicide prevention resource and cutting edge analytics to predict risk.”
A ZSA spokesman said: “We’re delighted the Government are encouraging NHS staff to take our training. It was developed to give people the skills to approach those who are struggling and get them help when they don’t know where to turn.
“The training was developed as a public resource so more people would know what to do if they saw someone at work, in their daily lives or a member of their own family that needed help in guiding them to services when in mental health crisis.
“It’s hugely significant that NHS staff will be encouraged to access the training because they are often in situations where they will spot someone who is struggling and it will also enable them to support people who need immediate help and guidance.”
Since being launched in November 2017, nearly 200,000 people have accessed the training, which has won several awards this year including the UK Content Awards’ Public Sector Content Campaign of the Year 2019, the Northern Digital Awards Best Digital Marketing Campaign for the Third Sector 2019, the PR Moments Awards Not for Profit Campaign In House 2019 and the Engage Awards Best Use of Training 2019.
The ZSA is also developing a digital platform called ‘Go To’, which aims to provide a range of influential sectors with a range of accessible mental health information on their local area to support them in suicide prevention.