By Federica Bedendo

Preventing suicide among Brighton and Hove trans community is the focus of a dedicated training workshop at Community Base.

Trainers will teach members of the trans community, their allies and people working with them how to encourage people to talk about thoughts of suicide, give immediate help and connect with specialised support.

Grassroots Suicide Prevention is the Brighton based charity that holds and partly sponsors the training day.

Chris Brown, a founder of the charity, said: “Trans people in the UK are experiencing more discrimination in terms of employment, health care provision, social exclusion and hate crimes.

“When trans people have experiences of hate crimes their risk of suicide increases, when they are found HIV positive or have disabilities, their risk goes up again.”

The charity operates in the South East and further afield delivering training to members of the community and professionals.

Grassroots Suicide Prevention is now working on making Brighton and Hove the first Suicide Safer City in the UK.

Ms Brown said: “We are currently ranked 11th in England and Wales but it has dropped, Brighton used to be second.

“Our charity has been working in the city for eight and a half years now and we would like to think that we have had some impact on this rate.”

Courses delivered by Grassroots Suicide Prevention and similar charities are not restricted to any particular group of people, they are open to all members of the community.

“You are far more likely to meet someone who is thinking about suicide than someone who is having a heart attack,” she explained.

To make Brighton and Hove Suicide Safer City, it is necessary to involve and train the so-called care-givers.

They are workers who do not have a formal role of support in the community, but get one-to-one time with people due to the nature of their job.

These include bar staff, hairdressers and dentists who can recognise in a conversation with their customers the signs of suicidal thoughts and allow those people to talk about it and keep them safe.

Tracy James, course manager at Brighton Journalist Works, has recently attended a suicide prevention course.

She said: “Unfortunately we have had a number of incidents here of people who have committed suicide.

“Because I deal with most of the students, we thought it would be good for me to attend the training in order to be able to pick up on any warning signs.

“I think the main thing I learnt was that you don’t have to fluff around with words, it is better to be much more direct.

“This allows people to realise themselves what they are going through and feel that somebody understands them.”

A 24-year-old man, who wishes to remain anonymous, had to deal with the suicide of his father at a very young age.

He said: “In my dad’s case, he was determined to do it and I think there was nothing that could have been done to save him, but this isn’t of course everybody’s situation.

“I am sure that training people on acknowledging the signs could save many lives.”

Another young man who suffered the same situation and also wishes to remain anonymous said: “I wish that professionals who were aware of my dad’s depression had picked up the signs of his suicidal thoughts.”

He said this is why he thinks that suicide prevention courses are so important.

“The only thing I can do after what happened to him, is raise awareness on the issue and encourage people who suffer from depression like my dad not to be ashamed of their condition,” he added.

He urges people to get help.

The free training day on suicide prevention dedicated to the trans community will be held July 21 at Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton.

 

For further information on free training:

www.facebook.com/GrassrootsSP

Twitter: @GrassrootsSP

Text LIVE 43 £3 to 70070 to donate to Grassroots Suicide Prevention

Samaritans 24 hour confidential helpline: 08457 90 90 90

London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people): 0300 330 0630