Our Community Suicide Prevention Hub – Safe Connections – has launched and gone live.
To give you some background about the service, the Safe Connections service is a collaboration between Mind in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge, Mind in The City, Hackney and Waltham Forest and Mind in Havering and Barking & Dagenham. Therefore, the service will operate across seven boroughs across Northeast London (Tower Hamlets, Newham, Redbridge, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Havering, and Barking & Dagenham), and The City.
Our Suicide Prevention Helpline number is: 0300 561 0115 and currently operates Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. We are a self-referral service that provides a warm and safe space to explore suicidal feelings, triggers, and the underlying causes. We will support callers to find and access other local services in the community, that can support to manage, or reduce suicidal feelings.
Anyone who calls outside of our operating hours can leave an answerphone message and we will get back to them as soon as possible. Or, if making the first call is challenging for someone, then people can email us at safeconnections@mithn.org.uk and we can call them to start conversations and connections. So please provide your clients with the helpline number and/or safe connections email address, depending on what makes them more comfortable to refer themselves. Please also circulate information about this service with your wider networks.
Please be aware that we are not a crisis service, however, we can support someone in crisis to explore appropriate support and signpost them to crisis intervention services or resources. We have access to a pool of resources (Local, London and National), available through our own databases and connections within our communities, and also through the Safe Connections suicide prevention app – Navi8. This App is accessible through the QR code on our posters (please see attached).
One of our focuses is to try to reach and support people who are not known to Mental Health services (eg. CHMT’s, CPN’s, CRT’s), as we want to be able to reach people who are the most isolated in the community. However, this doesn’t mean people under care cannot call us – we open to everyone. Some of the work could be about encouraging people to reconnect or engage with the support they already have in place, but we’re aware we might be able to provide space they might not usually have or to help them find extra support they might need.
If you want more training for yourself on how to support someone who is suicidal, then please visit the Community Education Providers Network (CEPN) website
Or you can also access a 2-hour training course which is suitable for anyone working with vulnerable clients, or those interested in learning more about Suicide Awareness and Prevention. More information can be found via the following weblink.
If you’re working with someone who is bereaved by suicide, then you can find information about the Postvention service – Grief in Pieces: Support for Suicide Loss, which is part of the Safe Connections Hub and delivered by Mind in The City, Hackney and Waltham Forest. Please see link to their website below: https://www.mindchwf.org.uk/our-services/grief-in-pieces-support-for-suicide-loss/
Please contact us directly on: safeconnections@mithn.org.uk if you have any questions about the service or would like our Team to present with more information at your next team meeting or event
