ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training)

The challenge

Every year more people die by suicide than from all the armed conflicts around the world.

In any year as many as 6 per cent of the population have serious thoughts of suicide.

How can Mind Cymru prevent further deaths and injuries?

How can we support people to choose life when something prevents them from seeing a way forward?

The workshop

Mind Cymru now provides the internationally recognised Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), which is already well established in Canada, USA, Australia, Norway, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

ASIST provides practical training for caregivers seeking to prevent the immediate risk of suicide.

Participants often include:

• people concerned about family and friends
• natural helpers and advisers
• emergency service workers
• counsellors, teachers and ministers
• mental health practitioners
• workers in health, welfare and justice
• community volunteers.

Working mostly in small groups of one trainer to no more than 15 participants, ASIST uses many different teaching processes to create a practice-oriented and interactive learning experience.

Learn how to:

• recognise invitations for help
• reach out and offer support
• review the risk of suicide
• apply a suicide intervention model
• link people with community resources.

What participants say about our ASIST workshops

• 'Very practical and supportive structure.'
• 'Very important first aid to be armed with, both personally and professionally.'
• 'Presentation was professional and sensitively handled. Extremely thorough and very informative.'
• 'Well delivered and thought out workshop.'