- Area:
- Wales
- Programme:
- Mental Health Matters
- Release date:
- 20 2 2012
A new report launched at the Cardiff City Stadium today highlights how a Big Lottery Fund project is contributing towards the reduction of suicide and self-harm in Wales.
Funded through the Big Lottery Fund’s (BIG) £15 million Mental Health Matters programme, Mind Cymru’s Positive Choices project is a five year programme which aims to contribute towards the reduction of suicide and self-harm in Wales. Thanks to an award of £1,020,000 from BIG, since 2009, the project has been able to run its Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), which trains frontline staff in early intervention techniques intended to prevent suicidal thoughts becoming suicidal behaviours.
Launched today (Monday, February 20) during a special mental health workshop at the Cardiff City Stadium, the report by Public Health Wales highlights the impact and effectiveness of the ASIST training in helping people to become more ready, willing and able to help someone who is having thoughts of suicide. It is estimated that in any one year, 3.4% of the population will have thoughts of suicide. For many in Wales working in health, social care and the voluntary sector, the ASIST programme provides their only training in suicide intervention.
The new report shows that the ASIST training makes it more likely that people will find the help that they need. Between February 2009 and July 2011, over 100 ASIST courses were held, training a total of over 2,200 people. Highlighting the need for the project, nearly 70% of those who attended the workshops reported that they had not previously had any suicide intervention training.
After completing the ASIST course:
- 97% of people felt more prepared to help a person at risk of suicide
- 73% of people had already used the training to help someone
- 8% had used the intervention more than 20 times after the training
- 96% said it was more likely they would ask someone directly if they were thinking of suicide
- Participants reported that the fear and taboo from the word ‘suicide’ had gone.
One person who can vouch for the success of the training is Sian Howells, Senior College Counsellor for Neath Port Talbot College: “The ASIST Training has been invaluable both in terms of my practice as a Counsellor and for the delivery of the counselling service,” explained Sian
“The strength of the ASIST model is that is can be incorporated into a therapeutic frame work. I find that I am able to take off my Counselling hat and apply Suicide First Aid in the same way that first aid is applied in other crisis situations. As a result of undergoing the training, I feel more confident working with suicidal young people and feel reassured that I am working with an evidence based model that is clear and structured.”
She added: “The ASIST training has influenced the way in which the service screens for students who may be experiencing suicidal ideation. Our referral forms have been adapted to include a direct question related to suicide. In this way we hope to be able to identify students who may be at risk at an early stage. The ASIST training has certainly enabled me to look at ways to strengthen and build on our existing safeguarding procedures in the College.”
Delighted with the impact of the ASIST training, Alan Briscoe, Mind Cymru’s Positive Choices Project Manager, said: “A lot of people are worried about raising the issue of suicide with anyone they think might be at risk. Today’s report proves that ASIST training gives people the confidence and practical skills they need in these situations. We hope it will encourage more people to train so that we can get these skills out into communities and workplaces.”
He added: “Suicide really is everybody’s business because so many people have been affected in some way.”
Highlighting the importance of National Lottery funding for projects such as this one, Big Lottery Fund Wales Committee Member and Chair of the Mental Health Matters Committee, Barbara Wilding, said: “As the evidence in the report suggests, this project is having a significant impact on the lives of people who are at risk of suicide or self harm in Wales. Our funding is making an important strategic contribution to developing services across Wales by helping people with a range of problems and supporting projects such as this one that try to overcome the barriers that they face.”
To read the report in full, click here or for more information, contact Alan Briscoe at a.briscoe@mind.org.uk or Tel: (01654) 703487. You can also visit the Positive Choices website www.positivechoices-wales.org
The Big Lottery Fund’s support to tackling mental health issues in Wales doesn’t stop there. On Tuesday, February 21, the Time to Change Wales campaign launches at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Time to Change Wales is the first and only national campaign to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems throughout Wales.
Funded for three years by the Big Lottery Fund, Comic Relief and the Welsh Government and delivered by three leading mental health charities, Gofal, Hafal and Mind Cymru, Time to Change Wales will have three main elements: a high profile marketing campaign to raise awareness and challenge attitudes, training at workplaces around Wales, delivered by people with experience of mental health problems; and a programme of community activism led by groups and individuals with experience of living with mental health problems.
For further information about the Big Lottery Fund and how you can apply for funding, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales or phone 0300 123 0735.
Further Information
Oswyn Hughes - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of Hours Contact: 07760 171 431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out around £100,000 a day in Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
- The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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