safeTALK Special Training
The highest rates of suicide worldwide are in the construction industry!
Hello, I’m Sandy, Darryl’s wife. For two years I worked in the construction industry in Hong Kong, alongside Darryl, as PA to the health and safety auditor. It is in that role that I would like to alert you to a new course in town, that is positively impacting on Australian lives. It’s a system that can save lives. I hope it will interest you.
I have been lucky enough to work in a variety of other settings, predominantly within ’the caring profession.’. Back in England, I was a specialist foster carer with Barnardos, taking care of vulnerable children with special needs (and supporting their families). I also founded a national network of support for families of encephalitis sufferers. Since moving to HK, I’ve mostly worked for the English Schools Foundation, as an Educational Assistant.
On International Women’s Day, Friday, 8th March 2019, I attended a half-day training session that empowered me to think in a new way. How might I be of assistance to someone contemplating suicide? How do we function as part of a team within our communities and workplace to help prevent suicide?
It was very forward thinking training.
The training had such a positive impact on my thinking, that I feel compelled share the details with you, especially after learning the tragic news that the construction industry has the highest rates of suicide in the world. safeTALK (I would call it an early detection system) is a clear system has been put-together, to save lives. It’s a multi-layered approach. Different people within an organisation adopt different roles, according to their level of training. I’m so pleased I took the basic rung of the training, which means I am now a ‘suicide-alert helper’.
I wasn’t aware, until I attended safeTALK half-day training, that even in the general population, 1 in 20 of us, in every year, are thinking about suicide and, if my memory serves, something like 85% of us have had an experience of knowing someone who was struggling in this way. But in the construction industry, sadly the situation is far, far worse.
Together, as a team, we can make a difference.
I did a little research and I will leave two links here for you:
https://www.registerednursing.org/suicide-rates-profession/
https://www.cdc.giv/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6745a1.htm?s_cid=mm6745a1_w
LivingWorks safeTALK half-day training
‘Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die, but are struggling with the pain in their lives.
safeTALK is a half-day alertness training that prepares anyone 15 or older, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper. Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die, but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. safeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations and take action by connecting them with life-saving intervention resources, such as caregivers trained in ASIST.
Since its development in 2006, safeTALK has been used in over 20 countries around the world, and more than 200 selectable video vignettes have been produced to tailor the program’s audio-visual component for diverse audiences. safeTALK-trained helpers are an important part of suicide-safer communities, working alongside intervention resources to identify and avert suicide risks.’
Source: safeTALK, LivingWorks, half-day training.