On Friday 10th September, over 115 partners from across Cheshire and Merseyside came together for an annual World Suicide Prevention Day event hosted by Champs Public Health Collaborative.
The online event was chaired by Councillor Anthony Burns, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Culture and Heritage, St Helens Council and we were also pleased to welcome Ruth du Plessis, Lead Director of Public Health for Suicide Prevention and Director of Public Health for St Helens Council to give a Cheshire and Merseyside progress update.
We heard from Michael Salla, Everton in the Community and Professor Andy Smith, Edge Hill University on Cheshire and Merseyside men’s health projects including key practical lessons that have been learnt from various projects across the subregion.
Our keynote speaker, Professor Rory O’Connor, Professor of Health Psychology, Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow presented on his latest research and book ‘When it is darkest: Why people die by suicide and what we can do to prevent it’.
In addition, delegates had the opportunity to engage in breakout rooms with partners to feed in their views on the priorities for the new Cheshire and Merseyside No More Suicide Strategy.
The presentations were very well received, with some excellent comments from participants including:
“Thank you very much for organising an excellent and very interesting webinar today.”
“Great Webinar. Off to buy the book now.”
“I have taken a lot of information from this event which will help with my circumstances. Thank you for this opportunity.”
Presentations
Please use the links below to download the presentations from the event.
- Ruth du Plessis – Cheshire and Merseyside progress update
- Michael Salla and Professor Andy Smith – Cheshire and Merseyside men’s health project
- Professor Rory O’Connor – When it is darkest: Why people die by suicide and what we can do to prevent it
Next steps
Thank you to everyone who shared their views on the new No More Suicide Strategy for Cheshire and Merseyside. Further stakeholder engagement will follow so please look out for future opportunities to get involved.
Some useful resources