The Jordan Legacy held an online discussion event today where the panel talked about how we can reduce the number of suicides in society. Two of the most common responses to tackling the problem were training and education in schools.
3 Dads Walking submitted a petition recently containing more than 160,000 signatures calling on the Government to add suicide prevention into the school curriculum and this was debated in Parliament in March. Dean Russell also put forward a motion for Mental Health First Aid to become mandatory in the workplace.
During the discussion, the panel was updated on The Jordan Legacy’s 2023 suicide prevention strategy and their action-research project, which has already engaged senior leaders from organisations like Papyrus and Samaritans, The OLLIE Foundation, Sean’s Place and the 3 Dad’s Walking.
The panel consisted of the following members :-
Dean Russell MP for Watford has put forward a motion for Mental Health First Aid to be mandatory for workplaces, which has its second reading in the House this month.
Emily Pearson is Co-founder and Managing Director of Our Mind’s Work and is a Workplace Mental Health Programme expert, developing the first in the UK, levy funded, Workplace Mental Health Leadership Development Apprenticeship Programme.
Jodie Hill founder of Thrive Law Jodie has been another powerful voice on this subject and has been seen on numerous media channels including Sky News.
Simon Blake joined MHFA England as Chief Executive in October 2018 and has been responsible for setting the organisation’s new strategic vision to improve the mental health of the nation through its mission to train one in ten of the population in mental health skills, knowledge and awareness.
Following the discussion, Dean said, 'I would like to thank the Jordan Legacy Group for working so hard to ensure that suicide prevention is discussed widely in our communities. I agree that both training and education in schools is imperative to try and reduce the number of suicides we see each year. The panel discussion was excellent, and it was good to hear about the progress of Jordan's Legacy and their ongoing research and development proposals'.
* Photograph - Jordan Legacy Group
