Working towards Zero Suicide
Steve Mallen, Co-Founder, Zero Suicide Alliance, Chair, The MindEd Trust
Steve Mallen is the Co-Founder of the Zero Suicide Alliance and a member of the National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group (NSPAG) within the Department of Health & Social Care, which oversees the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide & Self Harm. As a Trusted Stakeholder, Steve is also a member of the Expert Reference Group at NHS England with regard to the NHS Long Term Plan. Steve founded the charity, The MindEd Trust following the death of his son, Edward by suicide in 2015 and he is a prominent mental health campaigner. Professionally, he spent more than 30 years working in the global real estate industry.
Steve spoke about his Son Edward's suicide and how unexpected & shocking it was. Nobody told Edward's parents that he was having suicidal thoughts even though he asked health proffessionals to tell them. Steve then went on to talk about how things are now starting to change, but we still have a long way to go.
Full PowerPoint Presentation
How a UK Suicide Crisis Centre has achieved Zero Suicide
Joy Hibbins, Founder & CEO, Suicide Crisis
Pre event abstract
In her presentation, Joy will explain why and how she set up the Suicide Crisis Centre, and how their services work.
Joy will show how her lived experience impacted upon the ethos, approach and methods used at the Centre. She will also explain how their clients influenced the development of services in the first few weeks. They showed very clearly how the service needed to be modified and that additional services would be needed. The charity Suicide Crisis has a zero suicide achievement. They have identified many of the reasons why all their clients survive, and Joy will share these during her presentation. She will explain that the particular way their services are set up places a “safety net” around clients, and that their ethos and approach enables clients to engage with them, even if they have found it difficult to engage with other services.
Joy spoke about a sudden bereavment she suffered, and subsequent post traumatic stress, then suicidal thoughts and attempts. She also was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.
She went onto talk about the Suicide Crisis Centre. "Our approach is to do 'everything we can for each individual to help them to survive'.
The combination of Suicide Crisis Centre, home visits and emergency phone lines places a 'safety net' around our clients, minimising the gaps which they could fall through"
Full PowerPoint Presentation
Reducing Male Suicide
Jez Spencer, Hope Project Manager, Second Step, Suicide Prevention Trainer, Connecting with People
Pre event abstract
Since the Hope Project was set up in October 2018, the small team of staff have helps support over 150 men aged between 30 and 65. The majority of the men were experiencing significant financial problems that had led them to consider suicide as an answer. Most men were referred after presenting to A and E and being assessed by the Psychiatric Liaison Teams. As soon as the referral was received, the men were contacted by the team and safety planning began during that first phone call. Using motivational interviewing and solution focussed therapy as tools to empower and effect change relatively quickly, emotional distress as reported by the men, came down and a feeling of being in control once again meant that suicide was less of an option. The team are there to listen and signpost to other agencies as needed but the most important aspect of the project could be said to be the degree of compassion that was shown. Whilst this is hard to measure we know from our own experience that this helps to overcome those feelings of shame, embarrassment and fear that many of the men experienced and helped them to reach out when their feelings moved them towards suicide as being an option once again. The referral process is a simple one and the criteria for the service as simple as we could get. Developing key contact within the key organisations we referred onto was key to the success of the project.
Full PowerPoint Presentation