Suicide prevention training for professionals working with young people

The ‘How Serious is Serious’ suicide prevention model has been developed by Merseyside Youth Association’s RAISE team, working in partnership with Wirral CAMHS and YPAS.

The programme’s content has been guided by parents of young people who have died by suicide, children and young people’s participation groups and mental health professionals. Its development was funded by the Liverpool CDOP (Child Death Overview Panel) in response to growing concerns about the number of children and young people who end up looking to suicide as the only answer to the difficulties they are facing.

As professionals, we must realise every young person is at risk. There are things we can look out for that will indicate to us that certain young people are particularly vulnerable when it comes to suicide. This training has been designed to help professionals working with children and young people spot the signs of a young person at risk of suicide and, more importantly, to build confidence in professionals to talk openly with young people about suicide.

The Serious Programme aims to:

1. Increase confidence in the workforce in dealing with suicide in relation to children and young people.
2. Reduce the stigma surrounding suicide.
3. Enable professionals to spot a young person in distress and know how to respond.
4. Support professionals to have conversations with children about suicide.

Suicide prevention strategy

Suicide prevention strategy for England: 2023 to 2028

When someone takes their own life, the impact on family and friends is devastating and widespread, with many people throughout the community feeling the aftershocks.

There were 6,069 suicides registered in England and Wales (11.4 deaths per 100,000 people) in 2023; this is an increase compared with 2022 (10.7 deaths per 100,000, or 5,642 deaths) and the highest rate seen since 1999.

While the suicide rate in under-20s is relatively low compared with older age groups, rates across all age groups under 25 have been increasing over the last decade in England. This increase is particularly apparent among females under 25. This increase in rates is now levelling off – however, we must focus on action to reverse this trend.

Suicide is becoming an increasing concern among children and young people, with adolescent suicide rates in England and Wales having increased by 7.9% annually since 2010 (Bould et al., 2019). In the last decade, 6,929 young people in the UK have taken their own lives. The most recent figures show suicide is one of the leading causes of death in children and young people.

In Northwest England specifically, the rates of young people presenting at Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments for suicidal ideation with self-harm have increased (Ashworth et al., 2022), and hospital admissions for self-harm in 10–24-year-olds are significantly higher than the national average (Lewis et al., 2017)

Interested?

If you are interested in hearing more about the SERIOUS programme in your area, please register your details, and you will be contacted when dates become available.

You can book your place here.

To book a place on the Safety Planning training, please visit the Liverpool Child and Young People’s Mental Health Support website.

We will share this information with the designated workforce leads within your Local Authority to notify them that you would like to do this training.