safeTALK – Suicide Awareness Education for the Community

The Charleville Suicide Awareness Project, whose mission is “to educate, inform and support the community on the issue of suicide”, has been focused on creating greater awareness of the supports available to the public to help promote better and more positive mental health. Over the past number of years, as well as facilitating a suicide-bereaved support group, the project has facilitated a number of suicide awareness training programmes such as safeTALK, ASIST-Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, and Peer Support Education, and now begins a new round of awareness raising training and in the coming weeks by offering “safeTALK – a suicide awareness programme” to community members.

The safeTALK programme is a free, 3-hour introductory version of ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) for communities and the public and it aims to increase awareness of self-harm and suicide. Most persons with thoughts of suicide go unrecognised—even though most all are, directly or indirectly, requesting help. By attending this 3hr course, participants will be in a better position to identify people who have thoughts of suicide and move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss or avoid suicide.

Expect to leave safeTALK more willing and able to perform an important helping role for persons with thoughts of suicide by applying the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen and KeepSafe) and have the ability to activate a suicide alert and to link a person with suicidal thoughts to the appropriate suicide first-aid resources or with more specialised help.

With more suicide-alert helpers in the community, more people with thoughts of suicide will get connected to the intervention help they want. The safeTALK programme is the result of over twenty years of work at learning how to develop useful suicide prevention abilities in a short program and is fully supported by the HSE. It is recommended that the safeTalk course is undertaken as a prior requirement to availing of the ASIST programme.

This course is free and places are limited to 30 places so participants are encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment. If you would like to participate in any of the awareness or training programmes that are organised by the project, including safeTALK, please contact Margaret O’Callaghan on tel. 086-3576109 in confidence for further information and to register your interest. Participants will be advised in due course of date, time and venue of the course. The Charleville Suicide Awareness Project is supported locally by the HSE’s Turas Nua Mental Health Resource Centre and by Ballyhoura Development Ltd.

If you are feeling at risk of suicide, contact the 1Life 24-hour Suicide Prevention Helpline on tel. 1800 247 100, and consult with your local GP.