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# BREAKING THE SILENCE
Console seminar to help employers identify warning signs of suicide in their employees
The training programme will also help colleagues cope with the aftermath of suicide in the workplace.
THE SUICIDE PREVENTION charity Console is holding a special training programme to help employers and colleagues recognise the warning signs of a suicide crisis and learn the skills that could help save a co-workers life.
The programme also aims to help employers and colleagues cope with the aftermath of a death by suicide in the workplace.
Suicide
Console’s Director of Services Ciaran Austin said:
The tragic and shattering reality of suicide can have a profound effect on the workplace as it is a community where people spend up to half their waking hours and often form important relationships.
He siad Console’s training programme aims to help employers respond in a compassionate and informed way when a workplace is affected by suicide.
Austin said there is often a sense of fear or trepidation around this issue in people’s places of work that prevents people from looking for help, or helping others who may be bereaved by suicide.
Breaking the silence
“It takes courage to break that silence and speak about suicide in our workplaces but saying nothing is not an option. That only reinforce those fears and anxieties and adds to the stress of those affected,” he said.
As well as prevention, the training programme looks at how employers can deal effectively with situations involving the death of an employee and also how to help a staff member who has been affected by the suicide of someone close to them.
The programme is aimed at employers, human resource managers and other professionals who want to be able to respond appropriately to a death by suicide in the workplace, said Austin.
How to handle a crisis
He added:
Research suggests that when employers handle these crises well there is a positive impact on on staff in terms of their reaction to the loss and the long term effect it has on them.
The one day training course, hosted in Dublin by the National Suicide Prevention and Bereavement charity Console, will take place on on Friday, 15 November at the Marino Institute of Education in Griffith Avenue. The fee is €75 per person.
All participants will receive an attendance certificate.
Booking forms are available on www.console.ie or by ringing Console’s head office on 01 610 2638.
Console offers counselling services and 24-hour helpline support to people in crisis and those bereaved by suicide. You can call: Freephone 1800 201 890.
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