STAFF from Carmel College have undergone training to give them a greater understanding of how to prevent suicide.

St Helens had the fourth highest suicide rate in England last year, after recording 28 suicides.

Since then, Andrea Newton, tutor from the National Centre for Suicide Prevention Training, has been providing training to businesses and education sites in the borough so they never under-estimate the power a single conversation can have on someone's life and health.

Joanne Drew, a personal achievement tutor, is responsible for supporting students age 16 and above at Carmel.

She joined Kathryn Redmond, newly appointed chaplin at the college, to attend the City & Guilds Suicide First Aid course hosted by ABD Training.

After recognising that suicide in young adults is on the increase compared to recent years, they wanted to be better equipped to support students in their care.

Andrea Newton said: “I’m delighted to welcome Jo and Kath on to our workshop as we believe that every employer and every educational establishment should have at least one person trained to support someone who might be having thoughts of suicide – one in 20 of us will do at some point in our lives and it is critical that people get the support they need to find an alternative.

"The more we can do in our communities to raise awareness and become more suicide alert, the more we can intervene before people get to crisis and before they get stuck in a system with long waiting lists.

"Anyone can learn the skills and develop the confidence and Carmel College should be proud to be leading the way in having staff formally trained to support young people in this way, should it be necessary.”

For more information visit NCSPT.org.uk or St Helens based tutor Andrea Newton via abdcct.co.uk.