Safe Connections Suicide Prevention Helpline and Hub

We are a warm and safe space to talk, explore and work through suicidal thoughts and feelings.

The Safe Connections Suicide Prevention Helpline and Hub is a collaboration between three branches of Mind, covering eight boroughs across North East London – Tower Hamlets, Newham, Redbridge, Hackney, Havering, Waltham Forest, Barking & Dagenham, and the City.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

We are here to hold and support people to explore what’s happening and where their suicidal thoughts are coming from, and then, across up to six sessions, we try to help them find what they need or what they want, and what other local support in their borough or across London can continue to ease their suicidal feelings or stop them coming back again.

Call us on 0300 561 0115, or email safeconnections@mithn.org.uk and we will call you.

As well as the helpline, we run a bereavement by suicide support group (Grief in Pieces), a two hour suicide awareness training course that’s open to anyone, everyone, in North East London, and more specific suicide prevention training for professionals.

We are currently developing a series of culturally aware and appropriate workshops to try to increase education and awareness around mental health and wellbeing, suicide and communal suicide prevention.

What are your current priorities?

Our most important priority is always to be here to help and support when anyone needs us; to help people find ways through and beyond what distress, pain, worries or fear they are experiencing. We believe talking, exploring and appropriate support will help ease or reduce suicidal thoughts and feelings and, ultimately, deaths by suicide.

We are currently reaching out and engaging with vulnerable or isolated people, groups or communities more at risk of suicide, and trying to let them know we are here to support them whenever they need us.

We’re connecting and collaborating with local Community and Statutory providers across North East London, and sometimes further, including crisis services, to focus on supporting people not currently connected to other mental health services.

We are also trying to focus on raising awareness, building knowledge, skills and education, and starting conversations around suicide and suicide prevention across a very diverse and kaleidoscopic part of London.

What challenges are you currently facing?

We’re still a new service, so trying to let people know we are here and that we can be a safe, supportive and welcoming place for them to talk and explore is constant, ongoing work.

Gradually picking and nagging at stigma, fear and misconceptions; trying to increase awareness, acceptance and openness of mental health and wellbeing, suicide, suicidal thoughts and behaviours – on individual and communal levels, as well as culturally and systemically.

Finding appropriate and responsive services and support around us for our callers to connect with once they finish working with us; trying to find forms of support and help for all the (almost infinite) directions that suicidal thoughts can come from.