Getting the help you need

Supporting an individual who is experiencing suicidal crisis

The Martin Gallier Project is the only suicide intervention, prevention and postvention service in the North West of England. Our Suicide Intervention Workers provide crisis support through immediate suicide interventions on the high street with no barriers to access or waiting lists thus reducing the need for clinical interventions and hospital admissions.

Once an individual is no longer in crisis, our organisation focuses on prevention by supporting them to resolve the issues which have brought them to crisis point and bring them down from 100% suicidal ideation to 0%. We then move on to postvention through wellbeing and mental health support by building the individuals' confidence in the areas which brought them to crisis point. All the postvention work we do comes back to sucide prevention in which our service breaks the cycle of revolving door mental health care by equipping the service user to change the circumstances which triggered their suicidal ideation in the first instance. 

We have the following postvention support:

• Recovery Star Workshops - Comprehensive workshops which aim to work on the areas which have brought someone to crisis point in the first instance. These workshops are based on the 10 core areas which impact mental health and wellbeing and provide the skills and tools needed to overcome barriers and aid on the journey of recovery.

• Working well - Wellbeing and employment support for those whose employment issues contributed to their suicidal ideation. 

• Belong - A peer support group for those in the LGBTQIA+ community who are or have been affected by suicide. 

• Martin’s Man Cave - Male peer support group for men who are or have been affected by suicide and social isolation.

• The Self-Care Movement - Female peer support group for women who are or have been affected by suicide. 

• Forget Me Not - A peer support group for those bereaved by suicide.

• Parent Support Group - A peer support group for parents are or have been affected by suicide.  

• Relationship support - Support for those in crisis due to relationship breakdowns, domestic violence and/or domestic abuse. 

• Person-centred Counselling & Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - Postvention support for those following suicidal ideation.

Supporting an individual who is bereaved by suicide

The Martin Gallier Project supports family members bereaved by suicide, who are then at higher risk of suicide themselves. 

Research shows that up to 135 people are affected by one suicide loss and more people may need grief supports after a suicide (postvention) than previously thought. (Cerel et al., 2018, p.5). We provide an initial assessment to ensure the beneficiary is not in suicidal crisis, if the beneficiary is in suicidal crisis we provide the support specified in “Supporting an individual who is experiencing suicidal crisis”.

If the individual is not in suicidal crisis, we refer them to the appropriate service for further support, we then work with the individual/client to establish what their needs are and use our network to find them the most appropriate long-term support.

Supporting an individual who is affected by suicide

The Martin Gallier Project delivers Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)* (suicide first aid) into family units in which an individual is considering or has considered suicide.

*Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognise when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don't need any formal training to attend the workshop—anyone 16 or older can learn and use the ASIST model.

Other services we provide

• Rolling out our ASIST training to key members of the community that tend to be trusted by their customers e.g. hairdressers, tattoo artists and taxi drivers.

• Provide a kite mark for organisations that have taken the training. Now 20 Merseyside and Cheshire organisations proudly display a Martin Gallier Project stamp of approval as a recognised ‘Suicide Safer Organisation’.