Working in partnership with PAPYRUS on suicide prevention

We’re partnering with the national UK charity PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide to deliver workshops to all our students.

The new initiative, which will enable students to support one another, talk about how they are feeling and have potentially life-saving conversations, is part of the University’s Suicide Prevention and Response Plan.

Ged Flynn, Chief Executive of PAPYRUS, said: “Suicide is the biggest killer of young people in the UK. We believe many suicides can be prevented and universities can help to save young lives when they adopt a proactive approach to suicide prevention.

“This new partnership with the University of Essex will equip students with the skills to recognise and respond to suicidal behaviour. They will learn how to spot the signs that someone is struggling with life, how to start a conversation and support someone who may be having thoughts of suicide.”

Danielle Booth, Head of Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity, said: “As part of the University of Essex Suicide Prevention and Response Plan, we want to empower students to have potentially lifesaving conversations and support one another. We aim to increase awareness of suicide prevention and the resources available and encourage students to talk openly about how they are feeling and seek support.

“We are very much looking forward to launching the PAPYRUS partnership and we hope all our students will take advantage of the opportunity to book onto the workshops when they go live in April.”

Workshops will be delivered across all three campuses at the University of Essex in April for students to book onto and receive a certificate at the end of their attendance. Sessions will be on 21 April at Loughton  Campus, 28 April at Southend Campus and on 24, 26 and 28 April at Colchester Campus.

The partnership with PAPYRUS links to on-going suicide prevention communications throughout the year which explain how our students can access support if they are feeling suicidal and how to support one another.

For practical, confidential suicide prevention help and advice please contact PAPYRUS HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141, text 07860 039967 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org