One in three veterans have felt suicidal according to survey for Wiltshire military charity
Help for Heroes has launched a new training course
Research commissioned by a Wiltshire military charity has found that one in three veterans have felt suicidal.
The YouGov poll commissioned by Help for Heroes also revealed former servicemen and women suffering with suicidal thoughts are more likely to turn family (38.4%) and friends (26.6%) for support than a trained professional (25.3%).
Meanwhile over half of the GB adult population would not know how to help someone struggling with suicidal thoughts
Help for Heroes supports members of the Armed Forces community with their mental and physical health, as well as welfare and social needs and is on a mission to create what it calls 'suicide-safer communities.'
Working with the Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) the charity has developed a free 30-minute online ‘Suicide Awareness Training course' which is available to anyone, including friends and family of former service personnel. The charity hopes it'll help people to 'open up the conversation' and read between the lines of what veterans are really thinking, and signpost them to help, in the hope of preventing another life lost
Call for tattooists to get on board.
Help for Heroes is particularly inviting tattooists across the country to undertake the online training.
Anecdotal evidence provided by veterans indicates that the close bond developed with tattoo artists whilst sitting in the chair means tattooists could play an invaluable role in spotting when someone is struggling.
Help for Heroes will be starting the process of engaging tattoo artists in the online training in towns and communities that have high veteran populations, such as Salisbury, Plymouth, Colchester, Maidstone, Middlesbrough and Chesterfield.
Aaron Baillie, retired Royal Engineer and now tattoo artist serving the veteran community comments;
“After 22 years in the Army I am now a full-time tattoo artist. I regularly tattoo serving military and veterans. A lot of the time the tattoo appointments become almost therapy and venting sessions. Having gone through some really tough times during and after my military career I am able to empathise with my customers who become friends. I think tattooists are perfectly placed to take this training and learn how to spot signs when someone might be struggling”.
The Charity also plans to extend the campaign further to reach others in local communities who are likely to meet veterans, such as barbers and hairdressers.
Colin Preece, Psychological Wellbeing Manager at Help for Heroes, concludes;
“As the research suggest, veterans often don’t speak to professionals first. This initiative aims to find a way of opening the conversation with someone they trust and training them to be able to spot the signs. In doing so we may well prevent lives being lost to suicide.”