The OLLIE Foundation

We are a Hertfordshire based suicide prevention charity. We work within the local community as well as with health care professionals to provide training on Suicide awareness, alertness and intervention. Our training is available to anyone (some age restrictions apply to certain courses) who wants to work with us to help create suicide safer communities.

As well as this we also offer talks to schools, colleges and work places to promote education and awareness of mental health and suicide.

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

Through the training we offer, we give members of the public the tools, knowledge and skills needed to potentially prevent suicide within their community. After completing our training, participants are confident in spotting the signs (if any) that an individual may be considering suicide. They are given advice on how to talk to someone about suicide in a variety of situations whilst ensuring their own safety and well being is not sacrificed. Although we recognise the devastating effects suicide has on individuals, we are not actively a support charity.

We use our research and contacts to sign post those affected to appropriate charities, services and organisations who can help, directing people to the support suitable for them.

What are your current priorities?

Our main priority is to reach as many people, schools and organisations as possible within Hertfordshire and its surrounding areas. By making our training as accessible as it can be, we are able to spread our intentions further afield, therefore creating more awareness to more communities on the important subject of suicide.

What challenges are you currently facing?

Suicide is a very complex and difficult subject to address. Over time the word ‘suicide’ has become highly stigmatised and misinterpreted, resulting in people being scared to talk about it and unwilling to learn about it. Although the acceptance of the subject along with mental health and mental illness is improving, unfortunately many people still simply feel suicide will ‘never affect them’, therefore meaning they refuse to talk or get the correct education. At OLLIE we think it is important to talk about suicide before it happens rather than after, it is our strong belief that suicide is everybody’s business and can affect anybody at any time.