UMIP start-up, STORM^® Suicide Prevention (www.stormskillstraining.co.uk) has announced a partnership with bereavement specialist John Peters, to create a trailblazing postvention training program for staff in the healthcare, social and criminal justice sectors.

The collaboration is aimed at enabling STORM^® to create and roll-out a new component to the training programme for front-line staff working with the people most affected by the suicide of a loved one, for example partners, family members and colleagues.

John has first-hand experience of suicide having lost his son, Dale, twenty years ago. Since Dale’s death, John has studied for a Masters degree in Suicidology and become a volunteer for the Survivors of Bereavement (www.uk-sobs.org.uk) by Suicide telephone helpline. He and his wife Jean also run two support groups for the charity.

Postvention is an important discipline in the field of suicide prevention and can help to prevent further suicides as loved ones try to deal with their loss; it can help to alleviate distress and provide coping strategies for those affected by a suicide.

STORM^® co-founder, Dr. Gill Green commented: “STORM^® was set-up as a not-for-profit organisation to provide training to workers with day-to-day interaction with potentially vulnerable people. Our existing training is focused upon recognising the signs and building a safety plan for people displaying suicidal and/or self-harming tendencies.”

Gill continued: “It made perfect sense for us to look into creating a component to the training package to enable those same front-line workers to support people in the aftermath of a suicide; some of whom may also be at risk of self-harm.”

“I have known John for quite a while now and respect the important work he has done in the field of postvention. As such, he was the first person I considered approaching to assist STORM^® with creating such necessary and sensitive training courses.”

John Peters added “I am very pleased to be able to endorse the work that Storm is doing at the moment. I am looking forward to collaborating further with the team and putting together a postvention training package to provide relevant staff with the tools that they need to support those going through what is a highly emotive and unsettling experience.”

UMIP is The University of Manchester’s agent for intellectual property commercialisation and has been working with Gill and the STORM^® team to start up what began as a not-for-profit venture in 2003 into a Social Enterprise Community Interest Company.