ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (two day workshop)

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is considered to be the world's leading suicide intervention training program.

Trusted by professionals yet learnable by anyone, this two-day workshop from LivingWorks has been empowering people to have skilled, confident life-saving conversations since 1983 (over 40 years!) and is updated continually to reflect new knowledge.

Who should attend?

Join this two-day workshop if you want to get crystal clear about what to say and do if someone is considering suicide, and especially if you:

• manage or lead a team or community
• are in any role of high pressure or responsibility
• work with the public, young people, or groups at risk
• are worried about someone in your life

What you can expect

An ASIST workshop lasts two full consecutive days and attendance is required throughout.

It is a challenging and rewarding session (often also described as 'intense' and 'powerful') which discusses suicide in some depth and includes direct teaching, discussion and skills practice. Participants are encouraged to participate as fully as they feel able, to take advantage of this unique learning opportunity.

What you will learn

You'll learn how to prevent suicide by recognising signs, providing a skilled intervention, and developing a safety plan to keep someone alive. This workshop is an ideal follow-on from MHFA (but no prior training is required).

Over two days, you'll be offered safe and supported opportunities to:

• safely explore your personal and professional experiences with suicide
• examine your own beliefs and attitudes around suicide
• consider how our experiences impact our beliefs and attitudes about using suicide first aid
• better understand the needs of a person thinking about suicide - and how to use suicide first aid to meet those needs
• learn and practice a model of suicide intervention called PAL: the Pathway for Assisting Life

Creating a safe space

Suicide can be a difficult subject to talk about, and most people have been affected by suicide in some way. You are not alone if you are feeling apprehensive about attending the workshop.

Rest assured that your experiences and prior learning will be acknowledged and respected. Your trainers are skilled at holding any discomfort, recognising when more support is needed and finding the delicate balance between safety and challenge.

How you could prepare

If you choose to take part in this training, your trainers recommend that you:

• Clear your diary for the evenings before, during and after the workshop, as much as possible.
• Nominate in your mind someone you could talk to afterwards, if you need to. This might be someone at work or in your personal life. Your trainers will suggest other support too.
• If you have questions or concerns before the session, email rose@starttheconversation.uk

Your trainers

ROSE ROWKINS juggles her suicide prevention training work with mumming, singing and weightlifting - amongst other things! She has worked as a Samaritan, counsellor, mental health charity project lead, and has been an ASIST trainer for 10 years. She co-created the short session Talking about Suicide: 10 Tools (TAS10) which is now part of the curriculum at several UK Medical Schools. Connect on LinkedIn.

NICK BROWN is committed to helping communities and individuals become safer from suicide. He is a very experienced Trainer, Facilitator & Coach with over 100 ASIST workshops delivered. He loves walking by the sea, cycling, live theatre, music gigs, weekend breaks and quality family times. Connect on LinkedIn.

Request an Invoice

If you require an invoice, instead of booking through Eventbrite, you can request one by emailing hello@starttheconversation.uk with the following information:

• Your name, phone number, role and organisation
• Your organisation's billing address
• How you heard about this workshop
• If you have accessibility needs, how we can we best support you to feel comfortable and help you to learn
• Anything else you want or need your trainers to know