DEALING WITH SUICIDES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2018 :: RMTnews 18 RMT News reported in the May edition on the work of the Rail Industry Suicide Stakeholder Group (RISSG) and how the 2017 AGM called on the union to work with the industry to support its suicide prevention programmes. It is usually RMT members called to the aftermath of a suicide on the railway that are faced with the enormity of the event and in the clear up. RMT members have many horror stories to tell of how this has impacted on their working lives. RMT strongly believes that the most significant benefit that could be made to the problem of suicide on the railway is by having fully trained staff working in visible locations on the network and RISSG run a full programme of railway training courses for railway workers to better enable them to cope with some of these issues. To this end, RMT are planning to offer the two courses developed by Samaritans for RISSG, at the Bob Crow National Education Centre. The first course, Managing Suicidal Contacts, is a one-day course to enable rail industry staff to safely and sensitively make an intervention with a potentially suicidal person on the rail network. The course offers delegates practical guidance for how to identify, approach and engage with a vulnerable person, how to move them away to a place of safety and where to go to for further support. The second course, Trauma Support Training, is designed to equip staff with the knowledge and skills to identify the symptoms of trauma and how best to enable recovery. DEALING WITH SUICIDES RMT will be offering pilot courses at the Bob Crow National Education Centre in December on suicide prevention