Did you know you can start your suicide awareness learning right from your computer? More and more organizations are building suicide awareness, prevention, and intervention training into their health and safety standards. But, where to begin?
esuicideTALK is a 1-2 hour program (I did it in 70 minutes) designed by LivingWorks Education. esuicideTALK addresses the question, “Should we talk about suicide?”
Utilizing this program throughout your company helps create a consistent starting point for all staff. It heightens suicide awareness skills across the board. Staff learn what to do if they think a colleague’s life is being threatened by suicide. It is even designed so at-risk employees gain ideas about what to do to keep themselves safe if the threat of suicide is on them.
Suicide is the leading cause of injury-related death in Canada. Working-aged men and women represent one of the highest risk groups for suicide. ~Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP)
esuicideTALK focuses on life protection, life preservation, and life promotion. Layered between a mix of video content, short quizzes and activities, this is a great way to set a foundation in your organization around suicide prevention. Particularly if you are a national organization, one with remote locations, or have budget constraints.
Ideally, organizations would benefit greatly by structuring their health and safety standards around using esuicideTALK or suicideTALK (the in-person version) as a baseline for all staff.
Ideally, organizations would benefit by structuring their health and safety standards around using esuicideTALK or suicideTALK (the in-person version) as a baseline for all staff. Additional members of the organization should then be trained in safeTALK. And, finally every office and worksite should be equipped with at least 1-2 members who are trained in ASIST.
ASIST teaches suicide intervention skills, such as what to do if someone is at risk of suicide, how to talk about it, listen, and work with the person to build a safeplan. It also addresses when it’s appropriate to involve emergency first responders versus when we can work together to empower the person-at-risk to be a part of developing their own life-saving strategy. (Next workshop Feb. 6 & 7, 2018, Guelph. Click here to register.)
For organizations whose current guidelines are to call emergency first response when suicide is mentioned, ASIST can be used to inform your policies and procedures around prevention and safety. There is a time and place for involving emergency first response. Consider, however, that that may not be the best protocol for every situation. You can also use our consultation services to help guide your official workplace policies and procedures around the topic of suicide risk and prevention.
Workplaces are communities. Adults spend more waking hours in the workplace (60%) than anywhere else. ~CASP
FURTHER LEARNINGS
For those working in a clinical practice Suicide To Hope was designed to help those who are engaged with individuals on a longer term basis who are stuck in the cycle of suicidal ideation.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?.
The annual cost to the economy in health and social services, income support, and lost productivity is $51 billion. ~CASP
Individuals can access esuicideTALK directly through LivingWorks for $20/person. Or, companies can purchase a license to use the program internally. Depending on the number of staff you have purchasing a license can greatly reduce the cost per user to a single digit number.
Every member who completes the program will receive a certificate as proof of their participation. This in itself can reduce stigma around suicide talk as it gets the topic out in the open.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP
To start your esuicideTALK learning click here to access LivingWorks’ online tutorial.
To discuss a proposal to strengthen your suicide prevention health & safety standards through training and consultation services, contact our team at Life Voice today.
Given the right tools, managers and colleagues are able to identify and support employees at risk of suicide. ~CASP
esuicideTALK & suicideTALK INFO SHEETS