Talking Faith in Suicide Prevention

Yesterday we were pleased to launch our new suicide prevention resource – Talking Faith in Suicide Prevention.

The resource was developed as part of our work in the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, and in collaboration with representatives of 6 faith traditions, as well as front-line workers and people with lived experience(s) related to suicide and faith.

We hope the resource will empower front-line workers to bring wholistic, faith informed conversation into suicide prevention approaches. The resource includes insight gathered through our engagement last year, as well as in-depth information and signposting links for 6 faith communities.

The launch webinar included contributions from the public health team at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster City Council, and Dr Imrana Siddiqui, GP and Clinical Lead for Mental Health in Newham.

We were delighted to have 150 sign ups for the webinar, reflecting the breadth of interest and engagement in our work, and we hope the resource will be well-used by faith communities and professionals alike.

Access the resource via the link below, share among your networks, and let us know what you think!

https://suicideprevention.faithaction.net/

If you missed our webinar yesterday, it’s also available to watch back below:

More about the resource

It recognises that faith can possess both protective resources or “assets” for suicide prevention and challenging factors that may require nuance and awareness when engaging in conversations.

This resource IS…

…A primer to support faith-informed conversations about suicide prevention and postvention with adult members of the public

…Designed to support general prevention conversations

…Designed to encourage faith and culturally-aware approaches to suicide prevention and postvention

This resource IS NOT…

…A comprehensive guide to suicide prevention and postvention

…Designed to support with crisis presentations or emergency situations

…A replacement for standard training on suicide awareness, prevention and postvention

Who is this resource for?

Front-line workers

People leading front-line teams

Anyone planning or implementing suicide prevention or postvention strategies in public or voluntary, community and faith sectors (VCFSE)

What do we mean by “front-line worker”?

We are using this term to mean anybody who may be interacting with patients/public in a professional capacity, and who may engage in conversations or consultations around suicide prevention. This may include:

• Health professionals within primary care/A&E
• Other allied health professionals and social care;
• Wider public services, e.g. police and fire services;
• VCSE and statutory helplines and services.
• Workers in other sectors (e.g. hospitality, retail) trained in mental health awareness/suicide prevention

This work has been funded through the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, jointly managed by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency. It has also been developed in collaboration with the Royal Borough of Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster City Council, as part of a wider project looking at suicide prevention and faith and belief.