Fundraiser for suicide prevention courses in Burnley

Diversity, inclusion and suicide prevention training consultancy Berry Consultancy are holding 'safeTALK' training courses to educate people on suicide prevention.

Burnley local Bethany Berry, chief executive of the consultancy, said: "Our community is facing a mental health crisis.

"Suicide is such an important issue to be aware of and for me, it's all about making sure the community can have access to these sessions.

"It's all well and good when businesses have access to suicide prevention and intervention training courses because they can afford it a lot of the time, but suicide prevention impacts people's family and friends too.

"The plan is to take these sessions on a wider scale, and everything I've been doing with suicide prevention and diversity and inclusion is not about money. It's all about awareness." 

'safeTALK' is a half-day alertness training that prepares anyone over the age of 15 to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources.

Through this training, participants will gain the knowledge and confidence to move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss, or avoid suicide concerns.

Berry Consultancy's goal is to train at least 60 community members in safeTALK to create a network of suicide-alert helpers across our community.

Donations can be made to help cover the cost of training materials, venue hire, advertising and snacks/refreshments for participants to create a community of 'lifesavers ready to take action when suicide thoughts are present'.

Bethany continued: "No amount is too small, every pound gets us closer to our goal of equipping community members with the skills to save lives.

"Please consider donating to this important mental health initiative today. Together, we have the power to prevent suicide in our community."

The sessions will be held at Impact Conferencing, Sycamore Avenue, Burnley, and tickets can be bought here, or to make a donation, click here.