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We develop and deliver training courses for a range of professionals and free self-help resources for the public. We’re a passionate organisation, united by a desire to support mental health awareness, improve individual wellbeing and make a difference to people in distress and those supporting them, through the promotion of compassionate care. It is our belief that ‘suicide is preventable, not inevitable’ - everyone can safely play a role in suicide prevention. This ethos lies at the very core of our organisation and our training programmes have been purposefully developed to promote and support a ‘whole-community’ suicide prevention approach. Connecting with People training is designed as an emotional and experiential journey. We use facilitation, lecture-style presentation, open discussion and group-work to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence, with the aim of:
  • Improving individual wellbeing and developing emotional resilience
  • Removing stigma around mental health and suicide, and addressing barriers to help seeking
  • Ensuring a safe, appropriate and compassionate, person-centred response to someone in distress
  • Establishing a common language to improve communication across different sectors and promote a more integrated response across statutory services, third sector providers and communities
We remain forever grateful to our wonderful international ERG, for extensively peer-reviewing all content for both our training modules, clinical assessment tool (SAFETool™) and our online resource, StayingSafe.net. This renowned group consists of international academics, mental health practitioners, people who have survived suicidal thoughts / self-harm and those personally affected by suicide through bereavement. Together, they provide us with invaluable input when developing our training and tools.
We are proud that the expertise behind our Connecting with People training has been recognised in various ways over the years, as demonstrated by the following examples:
2020

Fortaleza, Ceará State, Brazil

Guest speaker and masterclass with Training Director, Dr Peter ILVES on suicide mitigation and sharing transatlantic experience for first responder and frontline services. Presentation to state fire service and military and federal police to include administrative teams

Guest speaker and masterclass with Training Director, Dr Peter ILVES on suicide mitigation and sharing transatlantic experience with Instituto do Bia Dote, a significant Brazilian NGO supporting communities in suicide prevention established in 2013.

2019 4 Mental Health delivered a presentation and a workshop at the International Associated of Suicide Prevention’s 30th World Conference in Derry, following successful selection by the academic scientific committee.
2019 Our Clinical Director, Dr Alys Cole-King, was keynote speaker at the Suicide Prevention Australia National 2019 Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
2019 Winner of the TasNetworks Pty. Ltd Best Practice in Suicide Prevention in a Workplace Tasmanian LiFE Award was Ambulance Tasmania – included organisational upskilling using the Connecting with People (4 Mental Health) approach to training.
2019

Connecting with People Training with Nicholas Procter (University of South Australia), winner of the Community Partnership Award; awarded by department for correctional services, South Australia.

2019 Guest speaker and masterclass with Training Director, Dr Peter ILVES at HC-UK Conference, London; Improving Mental Health
2019 Guest speaker and chair with Training Director, Dr Peter ILVES at Mimms Conference, Mental Health and Wellbeing stream for Primary Care; London, UK
2018

Connecting with People training selected by Tasmanian Government for state-wide train the trainer programme in Primary Care, Secondary Care and NGO’s. (Follows a similar state-wide programme in South Australia across Primary Care, Secondary Care and Third Sector NGO’s).

2018 Provided evidence to the Welsh Government on Suicide Prevention, Senedd.tv https://shar.es/1LlLCN
2017

Dr Alys Cole-King (Clinical Director) 4 Mental Health Ltd – Awarded the IASP Ringel Service Award for distinguished service in the field of Suicidology by the International Association of Suicide Prevention for the Connecting with People Programmes.

2016 Included in Public Health England/Health Education England ‘Mental health promotion and prevention training programmes - Emerging practice examples’.
2016

Cited in Parliamentary Briefing, ‘On Board with Suicide Prevention’

2016 The University of Wolverhampton was awarded the Outstanding Support for Students award at the Times Higher Education Awards 2016 using Connecting with People training modules