(Kirsty Keay, Suicide Prevention National Programme Manager,
talks about the future of the Suicide Prevention National
Programme)
On Saturday the 17th of September 2011, SAMH hosted the first
public event as part of its National Programme on Suicide
Prevention.
Suicide Prevention: Supporting Scotland's Communities,
was aimed at people who have been bereaved by suicide and offered
an opportunity for people to share their experiences in a
constructive way.
The audience, which was primarily made up of families and
individuals bereaved or affected by suicide, heard from a number of
speakers also affected directly by suicide.
Keynote speaker Ken Norton of the US-based Connect
Suicide Prevention Project, spoke about how his own experiences led
to a career in suicide prevention, and demonstrated how communities
can work together effectively to prevent suicide.
Maureen O'Shea, whose son Carl died in 2006, spoke passionately
about the personal and public benefits of working to raise
awareness of suicide and suicide prevention. The audience also
heard from Fraser Thomson, whose sister Pam died by suicide in
2009, about what fundraising for suicide prevention meant to his
family.
You can watch short films of Maureen and Fraser on our
website.
We then heard music and poetry from Iain Morrison and Daibhidh Martin,
allowing the audience some time to reflect on the stories they had
heard during the morning.
After lunch, audience members took part in a series of practical
workshops:
Sharing Experiences allowed those attending to
talk about their experiences of suicide, and use those experiences
to identify practical ways of providing support to others
bereaved.
Local Community Support encouraged participants
to think creatively about how to raise awareness of suicide by
using resources in their local community, including
fundraising.
Community Support Networks took a practical
approach to planning a national network of community support, using
the unique knowledge and experience of participants to identify
challenges, opportunities and next steps.
After the workshops, the audience heard from Georgie McConnell,
a SAMH support worker, who spoke passionately about the value of
the ASIST suicide intervention training. Georgie
recounted how she had used the training to save a person's
life.
SAMH will use the networks created and knowledge gained at the
conference to create a National Community Support Network for those
affected by suicide. The National Community Support Network will be
a way of putting people in touch with each other to ensure that
they receive the help they need and that they are not alone when
they need support.
If you have any comments or queries relating to this event, or
would like more information about SAMH's Suicide Prevention
National Programme, please
contact us by email.