Towards Zero Suicide CIC

The UK National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) has published a summary about the #ZeroSuicideSociety Humber-to-Mersey JoinTheDotsTour on its website. It's a short summary and now a useful reference with ready access to the links for the: > highlights video (7 mins) from the ground-breaking Launch Conference at The Baths Hall in #Scunthorpe on Wed 12 June 2024 > short film of the pioneering Tour (17 mins) with highlights of the gatherings across the M62 Corridor, plus extended coverage of the amazing final day in #Liverpool on Sun 23 June 2024, including the iconic 'Hope Gathering in Hope Street' and the 'Voices of Hope Concert with Reflections' at the Liverpool Arts Bar Both the Launch Conference video and the Tour Film were filmed, edited & produced by Garry L. of Bear Media. > post-Tour report responding to key support needs identified by those working in #SuicidePrevention who we met across the Tour - focusing on 'the business case' for investing in suicide prevention and how to vastly expand the number of people who've taken suicide prevention #training, which is currently a woefully low 6% of the UK population! This excellent piece on the NSPA website also adds value, in line with NSPA policy, by including a summary of lessons learned and 'tips' for anyone thinking of organising such a Tour in their area. A Tour like this is a huge commitment, it's complex, it involves spinning many plates, and it has to be a collaborative partnership or huge team effort, so it's not something to be taken lightly. #TowardsZeroSuicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles is more than happy to advise or support anyone who wants to organise a Tour around the ZeroSuicideSociety #JoinTheDotsTour model in their part of the country. https://lnkd.in/epNXArYy

#Education & #training were designed-in as strong features of the #ZeroSuicideSociety #JoinTheDotsTour June 2024 - along with advocacy, campaigning & collaborative partnership working - all highlighting the practical actions we can take to get the suicide numbers on a downward trend, towards zero. This will all come into sharp focus again around 10 Sept - #WorldSuicidePreventionDay #WSPD #WSPD2024 - when we all focus on 'Changing the Narrative on Suicide' and talking about suicide to help reduce stigma, enhance understanding and, ultimately, #SaveLives. During the pioneering Tour in June, Towards Zero Suicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles pulled up our banners to help explain the Zero Suicide Society + Key Messages & have everyone zap the QR Code for the Zero Suicide Alliance training (evidence-based, #LivedExperience informed, NHS endorsed, online, 20 mins, free!)... ...and he delivered educational talks in a Wellbeing Hub (Hull), a conference hall (Scunthorpe), a cinema (York), a Wellness Centre (Sowerby Bridge), a Wellbeing Centre (Middleton), a craft workshop & a theatre (Bury), a shopping centre (Wigan), a rugby league stadium (Warrington) & a bar (Liverpool). Across the whole Tour, we engaged with our local collaborative partners and interacted with 3,000+ people from 550 organisations. Our conversations included a rolling needs assessment of what support people feel they need to have more impact in their own work to get the suicide numbers on a downward trend #TowardsZeroSuicide. After analysis, top of the list of expressed needs were: 1) data, evidence & arguments to support 'the case for training' to get much greater take-up of training - specifically #SuicidePrevention training, not just #wellbeing or #MentalHealth; and 2) data, evidence & arguments to support 'the business case' for investing in (workplace) wellbeing and, specifically, in suicide prevention. In this post-Tour report, we've tried to meet these needs, drawing from: > interactions & conversations we had on the Tour & in our debriefs; > our own research, Paul's vast research over the past 10 years & other relevant past research; and > the survey research monitor Paul set up a couple of years ago (Paul designing the questions and overseeing the survey) with the wonderfully collaborative MEL Research whilst he was a freelancer working with The Jordan Legacy CIC - hence it initially being called 'The Jordan Legacy MEL Research Survey', now the 'Towards Zero Suicide CIC MEL Research Tracking Survey' - which provides valuable data, filling gaps in national data sets. It's a nationally representative sample of 1500 UK adults (aged 16+) surveyed twice a year, with the Spring 2024 & Autumn 2024 Surveys boosted to 1900 so we can more closely study the results across our Humber-to-Mersey Tour route. Hopefully you'll find it an interesting and, more importantly, a useful report: https://lnkd.in/edmBPZUT

The #ZeroSuicideSociety Humber-to-Mersey #JoinTheDotsTour, 11-23 June 2024, was a huge collaborative partnership initiative, connecting together people, organisations, places & issues that are all 'pieces in the #SuicidePrevention puzzle' and all 'parts of the solution' for significantly reducing the numbers of suicide deaths (and suicide attempts). It was a demonstration roll out of the Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme...and so much more than this via the collective energy and synergy of bringing together so many people committed to creating and sustaining a Zero Suicide Society... "a society that is willing and able to do all it can to prevent all preventable suicides" ...and committed to getting the suicide numbers on a downward trend #TowardsZeroSuicide. Film-maker Garry L. from Bear Media has done a superb job of capturing the essence of the Tour, and key highlights, including the amazing final day in Liverpool, in this short film. Please note that it's 17 mins - and emotional in places - so schedule a time to watch it, probably best with a cuppa...and a hankie close by! But it is a happy, hopeful, uplifting film...and many of those who've given us feedback so far have described it as "inspiring", which is good to hear. If you also think it's hopeful and inspiring, please share the film in your networks to spread the hope and inspiration! https://lnkd.in/eNHfi8nm

Towards Zero Suicide CIC certainly had a big start to its life as a Community Interest Company - 100% dedicated to rolling out the #ZeroSuicideSociety Transformation Programme; facilitating the systems changes and practical actions needed to get the UK #suicide numbers on a downward trend #TowardsZeroSuicide - by organising & delivering the #JoinTheDotsTour in June 2024, from the Humber to the Mersey. In total, the Tour comprised 19 major events across 15 towns & cities in 'the M62 Corridor' in 13 days, arriving in #Liverpool in time for the 5th International #ZeroSuicide Summit 24/25 June. And this pioneering Tour began with an absolutely ground-breaking Launch Conference at The Baths Hall in #Scunthorpe on Wed 12 June. The Launch Conference was ground-breaking in several respects. 1) It was ground-breaking in its breadth of coverage of the range of factors that cause or contribute to preventable suicide deaths and the many practical steps we can take to reduce the suicide numbers. 2) When the UK's leading 'experts by profession & qualifications' and 'experts by #LivedExperience of suicide' were invited to speak about their particular 'piece of the puzzle', there was an unprecedented 90% acceptance rate, demonstrating the shared interest, desire to 'do something different', and commitment to the cause! 3) It was also a breakthrough for #SuicidePrevention to have a major conference - so well-attended by such a wide mix of people & organisations with a shared interest in getting the suicide numbers down (towards zero) - where 2 in 3 of the speakers & panellists were people with lived or living experiences of suicide. And it was an honour and a privilege to have people on our stage who've sadly become 'landmark cases' - eg Phyllis Daly losing her daughter Jessie to suicide in the first case of a coroner concluding that #DomesticAbuse was a key factor; Julia Waters losing her sister, head teacher #RuthPerry, after the clearly harmful approach of schools inspectorate #Ofsted contributed to Ruth's suicide; and Robert Abrahart having lost his daughter Natasha to suicide then made to endure institutionalised cruelty rather than compassion from the university (Bristol) which contributed to Natasha's suicide - highlighting precisely what can be done to avoid other families having to experience the pain & suffering of suicide loss or suicide crisis. Thankfully, we were able to capture the essence of this incredible day at The Baths Hall & Plowright Theatre - which may be looked back on as a seminal moment in the history of 'suicide prevention with high ambition' - with expert film-maker Garry L. of Bear Media editing & producing this excellent (7 mins) key highlights video: https://lnkd.in/e6YgS-c4 Paul Vittles

Here's a podcast which is both a final and a first. It's the final podcast in which #TowardsZeroSuicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles was interviewed before the #ZeroSuicideSociety Humber-to-Mersey #JoinTheDotsTour, just a week before the ground-breaking Launch Conference at The Baths Hall in Scunthorpe on Wed 12 June. The rest, as they say, is history! The Tour has now been completed with great success and huge impact on the many people who participated directly and the many more following from a distance, including watching the fantastic Launch Conference highlights video and the short film of the Tour made by the highly talented Garry L. of Bear Media. Please check out both these highlights reels if you haven't seen them. Our next two posts here will feature them, and the links are in comments below. Although this podcast with Paul was a bit of a promotion for the Tour, it's interesting to watch the excitement and anticipation of what was to come, and Paul was also able to explain about the 'why' behind the 'what' & 'how' of the Tour, and highlight the #DesignThinking behind the Launch Conference & Tour, so it's still insightful and inspiring to hear it 2 months on. So that was the 'final' and here's the 'first'. This podcast was the first in a new #Wellbeing series hosted by the infectiously enthusiastic, eternally curious, highly skilled joiner of dots Seamus Corry Please have a look at this first podcast that Seamus did with Paul - who was honoured and privileged to be the first ever guest for this new series - and check out the others in the series, including the edition with another passionate, skilled joiner of dots, who has even written a poem called #JoinTheDots, Suzanne Baines To emphasise the importance of joining the dots, in terms of connecting up people, organisations, places, communities, issues of shared interest, etc... ...Suzie read one of Paul's posts here on LinkedIn...connected him to Seamus...who connected him to Garry...as Garry was editing the podcast series for Seamus...then Garry filmed, edited and produced the documentary record of the ZeroSuicideSociety JoinTheDotsTour...which includes Suzie performing some of her poetry...including JoinTheDots...at the Tour finale at the Liverpool Arts Bar. Isn't that just how the world works?! Why not make connections with Seamus, Suzie & Garry here on LinkedIn and see where that leads?! Enjoy the podcast (and podcast series) and have fun connecting and joining those dots! https://lnkd.in/eKzPEsYy

In March 2024, Towards Zero Suicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles recorded this podcast with • Nina Sunday CSP. Nina is based in Brisbane, Australia, but her podcasts have a global audience. Nina asked some great questions and helped Paul to position what to some can be highly complex & sensitive content around #MentalHealth #wellbeing #suicide & #SuicidePrevention in her excellent "Manage Self, Lead Others" series. This series is for a target audience of #managers & #leaders - including aspiring managers & leaders - plus people who support those in #management & #leadership positions through their #training #mentoring #coaching or #consultancy work. That said, the content is highly relevant and very accessible for anyone wanting to learn more about these subjects that are often so unfamiliar to people and, of course, for anyone wanting to support others and #SaveLives! The final, edited podcast provides an excellent introduction for managers & leaders and for this broader, previously unfamiliar, audience. Please bear in mind that, as the podcast was recorded in March 2024, 3 months before the launch of the #ZeroSuicideSociety Humber-to-Mersey #JoinTheDotsTour at The Baths Hall in Scunthorpe, some of the details of the Tour changed in that period. Also, as agreed in principle with Steve Phillip back in March, Paul set up Towards Zero Suicide CIC (formally constituted on 17 April 2024) to be dedicated to rolling out the 'Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme' after the Tour, ending what was a close collaborative partnership with Steve & The Jordan Legacy CIC over the previous 4 years. This partnership, with Paul as a freelancer working closely with The Jordan Legacy during this period, included carrying out an action research project Jan-Jun 2023 and co-authoring with Steve the ground-breaking report 'Moving Towards a Zero Suicide Society' which helped shape the Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme, building on Paul's previous research, engagement & collaborative partnership work with the global #ZeroSuicide community, and his professional work founded on his own #LivedExperience since 2013 in #TransformationalChange to get the suicide numbers on a downward trend #TowardsZeroSuicide. https://lnkd.in/eHhBG7se

In our previous post, we highlighted the ground-breaking report 'Moving Towards a Zero Suicide Society' which Paul Vittles & Steve Phillip co-authored, summarising the key outputs from action research among 'key stakeholders & people with #LivedExperience of suicide', which is the foundation stone of the Zero Suicide Society (Building Blocks) model & (Jigsaw Puzzle) framework. The report was published via The Jordan Legacy CIC - link here: https://lnkd.in/eEHuZHyv The 2nd edition of this pioneering report included the graphic summary of the #ZeroSuicideSociety model & framework (see below), set out in a well-received Executive Summary, with two 'keystones' sitting on top of the 'foundation stone': Continuous Systemic Action Learning (CSAL) and the paradigm-shifting 'Everyone Must Be a Priority for Someone' - expressed in the desired state vision as 'Everyone Is a Priority for Someone'. The analysis and report content is complex because suicide is complex, #SuicidePrevention is complex, #ChangeDynamics are complex, #TransformationalChange is complex... ...but #TowardsZeroSuicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles has made a career out of synthesising complex content & concepts and finding ways to communicate such content & concepts to different audiences and to a mass audience. And Steve Phillip also does this in his much-in-demand talks, although Paul has very much taken the lead now on explaining and rolling out the 'Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme', now being driven through a dedicated social enterprise - Towards Zero Suicide CIC. This recording of a webinar, hosted by The Jordan Legacy on 15 Aug 2023,... ...after publication of the 1st Edition of the report 'Moving Towards a Zero Suicide Society'; as part of disseminating & explaining the report content; and getting feedback & more suggestions for practical actions; just after the graphic summary of the model & framework was available; before publication of the 2nd Edition Report... ...is now the base tutorial for anyone who feels they need to know more and to fully understand the Zero Suicide Society philosophy, vision, model & framework, Transformation Programme & approach. If you didn't attend this webinar on 15 Aug 2023 or haven't previously watched this recording, please give it a viewing: https://lnkd.in/ebjPrUvG The final part of the webinar focused on the petition which Paul & Steve drafted, published & promoted for a package of proposals with the practical actions needed from government & parliament to get the suicide numbers on a downward trend, towards zero, bundled up as a composite 'Suicide Prevention Act' (which subsequently got the required signatures for a formal written response from the Government). There will be a separate post - and a separate article or paper from Paul - on the story of the Suicide Prevention Act, which the new Government might be interested to hear!

Since #TowardsZeroSuicide CIC was constituted on 17 Apr 2024 - Paul Vittles chose that date as it would've been his mum's birthday, and she gave him such a good start in life, Paul thought it was a good way to start his new business! - we've added several posts here on this 'Company Page' covering the history & context of what's brought Paul to this point in his life & career, now dedicated to getting the (UK) suicide numbers on a downward trend, towards zero. We've covered Paul's career in #research #CommunityEngagement & #TransformationalChange - 3 professional disciplines that underpin Paul's work in #SuicidePrevention We've covered Paul's personal #LivedExperience of suicide & #MentalHealth, inc Paul nowadays being quite open about 'living with mental illness for more than 20 yrs' and also often talking about his experience of severe #burnout in 2003-4 and his breakdown & severe #depression in 2011 after his dad died. We've covered Paul's professional work in suicide prevention from 2013, starting with facilitating the global 'Breakthrough Ideas for Suicide Prevention' forum; his ground-breaking work in Australia; his radical thinking research & engagement with the Global #ZeroSuicide community, 2018-2020, which resulted in a Transformation model which was adopted by a number of those working in the field, inc Steve Phillip & The Jordan Legacy CIC when Steve started working in close collaborative partnership with Paul in 2020. Another key step on the journey that's led to this point is carrying out the #ActionResearch with Steve which resulted in the pioneering report 'Moving Towards a #ZeroSuicideSociety'. This research began in Jan 2023 with a working definition of a 'Zero Suicide Society' as: "A society that is willing & able to do all it can to prevent all preventable suicides". There was an intensive period of interviews, based around 2 key questions: Q1 How far can we go in getting the (UK) suicide numbers down (what's our belief system?)? Q2 What practical actions will get the (UK) suicide numbers down (towards zero)? This was written up into a 1st edition report; published on 11 July 2023 (which would have been Jordan's 38th birthday); comments & further practical action suggestions were invited; masses of feedback and loads of further suggestions were received; an executive summary was written; the graphic summary of the (Building Blocks) model & (Jigsaw Puzzle) framework created; and the 2nd Edition published on 29 Sept 2023; after also publishing a response from The Jordan Legacy to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, 2023-2028. Since publication of this seminal report, there've been webinars, meetings with key stakeholders, further publications, and the rollout of the 'Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme' with the #JoinTheDotsTour We'll cover all of this in future posts, but here's that report: https://lnkd.in/eEHuZHyv

In many walks of life, people live in a bubble. They form a group or community, or they join a group or community, often because there's a shared interest with mutual support, and they then happily interact within their group or community, with lots of positive strokes. One of the downsides though is that they only or primarily interact with other people 'inside the bubble'. This can lead to a loss of perspective, and it can limit impact. This happens in the world of #SuicidePrevention. It's very easy to live 'in the bubble' because there are so many supportive people who have similar experiences and a shared sense of mission. But, to get the suicide numbers on a downward trend, towards zero, it's essential to involve people 'outside the bubble'. This includes those who have potential 'solutions', eg because they're entrepreneurs or tech innovators or transformational change specialists or advisers to government or they have access to significant funding, and also people who've never previously thought much about suicide or suicide prevention, if at all. If nothing else, these people can be part of our #ZeroSuicideSociety movement's call to: "Take the Training, Have a Conversation". They can take the training and have a conversation; they can encourage others to take the training and have a conversation; and we can get the number of people who've never had any training in suicide prevention down from the 94% figure it currently stands at...#TowardsZero! One of the core purposes, and key goals, of #TowardsZeroSuicide CIC is to reach out 'outside the bubble' to these people who've not previously been exposed to suicide and/or not previously engaged in suicide prevention - to educate, advocate & activate...to maximise the pool of people we have that are 'part of the solution'. On 17 January 2024, Towards Zero Suicide CIC founder Paul Vittles ran a webinar for The ICG, a community/network of independent research & insights professionals, largely UK-based but with a global membership. Most of those attending were 'outside the suicide prevention bubble'. We know there can be resistance to talking about suicide or even suicide prevention, and that we get pushback, so Paul positioned his webinar presentation as... "Transformational Change Dynamics - and The 'S' Word" ...so it would attract people wanting to learn about #TransformationalChange & #ChangeDynamics, with the opportunity to then cover suicide & suicide prevention in this same session. Paul also positioned suicide prevention as "one of the great transformational change challenges of our time". Via the link below, you can access the webinar recording, and all of the (many) sources that Paul references in his talk. This includes the two videos that didn't play on the screen at the live event. https://lnkd.in/eU3Crpwr

#TowardsZeroSuicide CIC Founder Paul Vittles now has a primary focus on transformational change in #SuicidePrevention, aiming to get the (UK) suicide numbers on a downward trend, towards zero... ...which is a long way down from the 6,000+ preventable deaths by suicide we currently have in the UK every year. In tackling this "great transformational change challenge of our time", Paul works with diverse communities & networks, and many collaborative partners, including those already engaged in suicide prevention and those who previously have never engaged with suicide prevention - in order to get fresh eyes, fresh ears & fresh minds on the topic for creative solutions. Paul also draws on his #LivedExperience and his professional background in #research (especially participatory research); #CommunityEngagement; coaching & counselling; change management, leadership & facilitation; #TransformationalChange dynamics; and deliberative & participative #democracy. Understanding these professional disciplines is key to breaking through on #ZeroSuicide or #ZeroSuicideSociety programmes; combined with the passion, intense drive & practical knowledge around actions needed that Lived Experience brings. It needs 'fire in the belly and a cool head'. In this piece below, which Paul published during the first COVID19 Lockdown as his 'Magnum Opus' (at that time - recent events with the #JoinTheDotsTour have probably superseded it), pulling together several major influences on his thinking & approach, Paul covers the background & history of his work & career which provides the context for what he's doing now in applying all of this knowledge - aligned with his values, sense of mission, sense of purpose, clarity of vision - to the challenge of suicide reduction at scale. https://lnkd.in/eQi6MgCw