WEST MIDLANDS Police welcomed the Baton of Hope to its headquarters as part of a nationwide suicide and awareness campaign.
Members from The Fire Fighters Charity, Combat Stress, The Ambulance Staff Charity and the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System, joined Chief Constable Craig Guildford last Monday as the baton toured Birminham.
The Baton of Hope is aimed at bein the biggest suicide awareness and prevention project the UK has ever seen and is touring UK towns and cities for two weeks.
Welcoming guests to Lloyd House, West Midlands Police headquarters, Mr Guildford spoke about the importance of the campaign and said suicide prevention and postvention continued to be a huge priority for the force.
He said: “In the last 12 months West Midlands Police have been working hard to ensure it is adhering to the suicide prevention consensus and focusing on embedding the suicide postvention toolkit within our wellbeing strategy.
“We have been working closely with the Samaritans, given their expertise in this area, with the toolkit being made available later in 2023/2024 to all staff affected by suicide in the workplace.
“To support this work we have first line supervisors trained in mental health first aid, suicide prevention and awareness.
“Training will be continuous so this number will continue to grow.
“We continue to support our colleagues through a robust trauma management programme, the launch of a new Peer Support scheme and a site of options that balance between holistic and clinical approaches to health, wellbeing and collaborative working.
“We must encourage people to talk openly about feelings of suicide.
“A death to suicide is a death too many.”
