The senior boys at Auchinleck Academy have been working alongside the school Mental Health Nurse, Angie McDonald, to take action to prevent suicide.

Taking action on the frightening statistics around suicide and in particular the increased risk of suicide in males, Angie has introduced training on suicide alertness initially offering this to S5 and S6 boys. The uptake has been successful with fifteen of the senior boys having voluntarily completed the training and also having made a commitment to regular meetings to focus on their mental well-being.

We recognise that talking and listening can save lives. Talking openly about suicide is a way to reduce the stigma which prevents many people from seeking help or talking about how they are feeling. As a school we recognise that anyone can play a role in suicide prevention and therefore we have made a pledge to take action – to save lives.

So how exactly do we plan to take action?

Our aims:
– Reducing the stigma around Mental Health & Suicide
– People at risk of suicide feel able to ask for help
– Increasing pupils understanding of suicide prevention

How we pledge to take action:
– By offering suicide alertness training with aim of increasing the opportunity for pupils to talk openly about their feelings in school.

This week the boys have presented our pledge during school assemblies with the hope of recruiting more volunteers for training in Suicide Alertness, this has been offered to all pupils in S3 to S6. Having the senior boys present has been a powerful message to other pupils, the boys were able to share some of their personal reasons for signing up and their commitment has shown that they recognise the risks of bottling things up and that they are prepared to make a change to improve their mental well-being. Following raising awareness during assemblies we hope to recruit more volunteers to receive training in suicide alertness.

We have defined the role of those trained in school as follows; Being approachable, having an alertness to signs that someone may be struggling, having confidence to ask the suicide question, offering a listening ear, supporting other pupils to get more help by alerting school Mental Health nurse if pupils have expressed suicidal thoughts, plans or intent. The boys have designed a badge to help pupils to recognise those trained within school – we are hopeful that this will break down some of the barriers and stigma around mental health and talking about our feelings.