Kelly’s Heroes

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

Kelly’s Heroes offers a range of innovative interventions to support individuals experiencing poor mental health, and suicidal thoughts.

This is achieved through our range of consultancy and training for businesses and schools, so everyone at home and work feels confident to talk about mental health and suicide.  Our training includes age appropriate talks for schools, so that younger people can gain the knowledge and skills to make a difference.  We are passionate to ensure that everyone can learn that suicide is not the only option.

Postvention is also prevention, and we have established a referral pathway for anyone affected by suicide so they can access timely appropriate interventions, whether this is 1:1 counselling, postvention family support or bereavement groups.   

What are your current priorities?

Raising Awareness: Mental Health Talks –  Flexible in approach, our talks can be tailored for each audience on mental health and suicide prevention to better educate and increase awarenessTraining and support available to the wider community: Awareness through tools – To offer training to school staff, teachers, businesses, and managers to equip them with active listening skills, knowledge and tools to spot the suicide warning signsIncreased support for people bereaved by suicide : Postvention is also prevention, we will offer countywide support groups for anyone bereaved by suicide.  We also have qualified counsellors to offer free support for individuals and families navigating their way after a suicide loss.  We will also be offering immediate support to any family in the days following a suspected suicide.

Kelly’s Legacy: To train Kelly Champions in schools and workplaces, supporting those who may feel vulnerable and in need. Educate to recognise when professional help is needed.  Our champion’s will help campaign for better awareness, helping to reduce the stigma and have the confidence to talk openly and compassionately about suicide.

What challenges are you currently facing?

As a new charity we have been fortunate to attract sustainable local support and have raised enough funding through our events to support our 2021-2023 strategy plan.

Our current challenge will be to develop our relationships with local stakeholders in a challenging COVID environment. Ensuring that our services are available to those that need them and everyone can access the support we can offer.

Such is the sensitivity and complex nature of suicide prevention; we need to ensure that we are able to bring our interventions into schools and colleges to meet the growing demand for mental health support.