The 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.
The Suicide Prevention Helpline number is: 0300 561 0115 and currently operates Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. This is 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 Safe Connections will get back to them as soon as possible. Or, if making the first call is challenging for someone, then people can email safeconnections@mithn.org.uk and they can call them to start conversations and connections.
Please be aware that Safe Connections are not a crisis service, however, they can support someone in crisis to explore appropriate support and signpost them to crisis intervention services or resources. They have access to a pool of resources (Local, London and National), available through their 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).
There is more information about our service available on the Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham website:
The focus is to try to reach and support people who are not known to Mental Health services (eg. CHMT’s, CPN’s, CRT’s), as they want to be able to reach people who are the most isolated in the community.
Although this service is primarily for people who are not known to mental health services, Safe Connections recognise that you might work with people who are suicidal. If you’re unsure of how to support someone who is feeling suicidal, or need more training on how to support someone, then please visit the Community Education Providers Network (CEPN) website via: https://nelsuicidepreventiontraining.co.uk/
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: https://www.mindchwf.org.uk/our-services/suicide-awareness-and-prevention-training/
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: https://www.mindchwf.org.uk/our-services/grief-in-pieces-support-for-suicide-loss/
Please contact Safe Connections directly on: safeconnections@mithn.org.uk if you have any questions about the service or would like their Team to present with more information at your next team meeting or event.
Since launching the service on 10 September, 2021, Safe Connections have helped 51 people from across the boroughs (and outside, even outside London), and completed 129 support sessions. The arcs of the sessions are a mix of suicide support, emotional support and exploration, and then helping people find and start to access the support around that they might need after us, that can help with wherever their suicidal thoughts are coming from or could keep them away.
Signs and hints of possible suicidal feelings…
(please note – these don’t necessarily mean someone is feeling suicidal but they are signs and symptoms that they are going through something stressful, difficult or painful, that could lead to suicidal thoughts, feelings, and possibly plans and ideation)
– A dramatic change in personality or mood
– Withdrawing or alienation from friends, family, or society
– Sadness and other signs of depression
– Hopelessness, helplessness
– Shame, guilt, anger, or rage (words or behaviours)
– Change in appearance/hygiene/self-care etc…
– Changed eating or sleeping habits
– Under working/over working
– Excessive or unusual drinking or drug use.
– Self-harm
These are all coping mechanisms, but show something stressful is happening, and they can lose effectiveness over time
– No reason for living/no sense of purpose in life – no connections
– Sudden or unexpected recovery – scary sign because it can mean they have a plan or a way out of their pain, and a lot of stresses suddenly don’t matter anymore.
– Saying goodbye, or putting affairs in order/tying up loose ends
– Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide
– Use of suicide chat rooms/pro-suicide internet sites
How to support someone who’s feeling suicidal…
– Don’t be scared – suicidal thoughts do not always mean plans; they are mostly just thoughts of escaping their pain or stress or whatever is happening around them. This is mostly likely what they will talk about.
– Check up on people; ask them how they’re doing.
– Encourage them to talk (to you, other people, professionals, whoever) and let out thoughts, or to be heard, to vent, to process, to be reassured – when they are ready, with no pressure or expectation. Reassure them they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to.
– Listen and hear – don’t assume or interrupt.
– Let them know they are not alone.
– Let them know they are not a burden or a drain.
– Let them know they are loved and important – Warmth, care, acceptance.
– Acknowledge we might not be able fix or change things straight away, but we are with them in this.
– Encourage professional help: medication, counselling, practical support etc…but only what and when is right for them. No pressure, no telling.
– Help them find other help, if they need you to: looking can feel overwhelming, scary or disheartening sometimes.
– Remember self-care and our own boundaries. Only carry what you can carry. You don’t have to do everything.
– Remember you are not alone in this either.
Safe Connections: 0300 561 0115 (North East London) – safeconnections@mithn.org.uk
Samaritans: 116 123 – jo@samaritans.org
Suicide Prevention Helpline: 0800 689 5652
