New suicide awareness training to support autistic people in Wigan

There can be a variety of contributory factors that increase suicide risk for autistic people*. These include:

Finding it difficult to communicate their thoughts or struggle to find words to express their emotions – known as alexithymia;

A tendency to mask, which is when an autistic person actively hides their autistic traits during social situations in order be accepted by non-autistic peers, that can have a negative impact on their mental health; and

Autistic people can often get stuck on or continuously mull over a particular thought or behaviour therefore, if suicide crosses their mind, it may be more likely to stay there.

The aim of this training is to give people the confidence and skills to talk to an autistic person they believe may be thinking of suicide.

Developed by Zero Suicide Alliance, who have a number of training packages for suicide awareness and prevention, the training is for anyone who cares for, works with or has a personal and professional relationship with an autistic person. It has been developed in partnership with a steering group of more than 200 people.

The steering group included autistic people, carers of autistic people, families bereaved by suicide and clinical experts, so that a range of views and experiences could help shape the training, making it as informative as possible.

The training includes the possible warning signs to look for which may show a person is at risk of suicide, how to have a life-saving conversation – including what language to use, what support you can signpost people to and even includes videos based on the real experiences of autistic people to help guide you through.

To coincide with World Autism Acceptance Week, over 1,000 people registered to join an online launch event for the training. The event shared more about how and why the training was developed, personal stories and insights and offered a preview of the new training.

Adele Owen, NHS Greater Manchester Suicide Prevention and Bereavement Support Lead, said: “Autistic people face barriers in many areas of society. Launching our new training package during World Autism Acceptance Week feels like an appropriate opportunity to highlight that suicide is a leading cause of early death for autistic people, and that work needs to be done to ensure the right support is in place for them.

“At NHS Greater Manchester, we believe that every suicide is preventable if we break the stigma around suicide, so that people feel comfortable in speaking up and finding the right support. Our Shining a Light on Suicide campaign aims to take the subject out of the dark by encouraging everyone in Greater Manchester to talk openly about suicide, suicidal thoughts and suicide bereavement. This training is an important part of that.

“It is crucial that autistic people, and their families and carers, can access tailored information, guidance and support.

"Often people can be concerned that an autistic person in their life is at risk of suicide but feel awkward having a conversation or worried that they will say the wrong thing. Training like this, which includes the views and real experiences of autistic people, can make you feel more confident and equipped to navigate that conversation and ultimately save a life.”

Jav, who lives in Rochdale and shares his experiences as an autistic person as part of the training, said: “I volunteered to be a part of this programme of work because I’m neurodivergent and I went through periods of difficulties.

“When I had suicidal thoughts, at that point it felt like I couldn’t express myself both verbally and emotionally. I became significantly isolated.

“Neurodivergent people will communicate slightly differently, and we need more people to accommodate for that or learn more about it. The training aims to help recognise different ways an autistic person could be showing signs that they’re feeling suicidal and different approaches that could be taken to talking to them about it. Not everyone will have a diagnosis either so it’s remembering that these approaches could be taken with anyone.”

Alex Close, Zero Suicide Alliance Project Manager, said: “NHS Greater Manchester not only funded the training but supported and worked with us throughout the development.

“We are also so grateful to everyone who shared their personal experiences, and what they would want from the training. They all helped us develop an authentic training course, based on real life.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback we’ve received about the online launch event. We hope that people take this training and as a result feel empowered and equipped to have important and potentially life-saving conversations.”