In October this year, LivingWorks #ASIST program will celebrate a remarkable 20 years in Scotland!

ASIST was introduced as part of the World pioneering Choose Life suicide prevention strategy in 2004 that led to a 20 percent reduction in suicide in Scotland - and applauded here in Australia: I got to speak at a Senate Hearing at Parliament in 2021, where LivingWorks highlighted the two Choose Life evaluations that praised the introduction of ASIST!?

As the two decade milestone looms this October, Scotland's ASIST trainers came together last month (March). And Scotland Suicide Prevention leader Haylis Smith (herself an ASIST Trainer) reflected on this Highland Gathering as part of her blog for Suicide Prevention Scotland.

Read for yourselves her passion:

"The final event was held at the end of March with Livingworks trainers. Again, it has been some time since there was an opportunity to come together in person and share our experiences of delivering these training programmes.

"It is 20 years this year since ASIST was first delivered in Scotland. This session in March aimed to help connect trainers with each other and also help to develop their skills especially around the standard procedures which help to ensure we provide the knowledge and skills people need to intervene when someone is thinking about suicide.

"I love my whole job, I love the opportunities I have to try to make things better for people affected by suicide, I love being able to meet so many passionate people who inspire me every day.

"Delivering ASIST training holds something special for me. It is no longer something I do as part of my job, but I do it now in my spare time and holidays.

"I am really passionate about this for two main reasons, firstly because it helps me really connect with people on the ground across Scotland, who are supporting people at risk of suicide. I hear their experiences and they help me to do my job better.

"And secondly, because I know this training makes a difference. I know people who have attended this training and who have been confident to use the skills they have learned to ask someone about suicide and to help keep them safe.

"Being in the room with other trainers also reminded me of the importance of connection and understanding.

"In October this year, it will be 20 years since I attended my training for trainers (T4T) for ASIST, and over that period I have made some life long friends. The event in March helped me connect with them and some new faces, people who completed their T4T last year.

"We are like a family, new people are welcomed and join as if they have always been there. During the session we painted stones to symbolise our ‘rocks’, the things that keep us going when we are doing this work.

"I was lucky enough to sit beside a new face in the room, a safeTALK trainer who suggested we swap rocks. It was such a lovely thing to do and I loved the image he had painted of a beach with the word gratitude.

"I got to spend the evening and night with one of the wonderful ASIST friends I have. She is also one of my rocks, someone who has worked in suicide prevention for as long as me, who has shared the journey in Scotland for as long as I have and who also happens to be the knitter of some wonderful socks.

"She gifted me my third pair on this day and I can’t tell you how much they all mean to me. Every time I wear a pair they make me smile, they remind me that even when the work is hard and I feel like we aren’t making the difference we need to make, there are so many wonderful people out there really trying.

"The last couple of months have been busy. There has been a lot going on which all feels like progress is being made.

"There are often parallels between the work I am leading and the model we use for ASIST. First we need to connect and it is these connections which help to build the foundations for what comes next. Secondly, we need to take the time to understand, to look at things from another person’s perspective to hear their story and to see glimmers of hope and opportunities. Finally, we assist, we help to put in place a plan which will help to create safety, one which involves the things and people who can help.

"The last few months have reminded me of this, we are building the connections and the foundations which will support change.

We have heard from many different people and organisations who are sharing their stories and their experiences to help improve how we work and we have also spent time putting in place plans to drive forward the work which includes new people and organisations.

"Suicide prevention needs us all to work together to do this and I am very grateful for everyone who is helping to create hope in Scotland.

"So, I’ll finish with this, to symbolise the benefit of looking at things from a different perspective. I was so grateful to swap rocks with my safeTALK friend, I took it at face value, a lovely picture of gratitude, but, what prompted me to write this was going into my bag and finding the stone again.

"I was having a moment when I was asking myself if we were doing enough, if I was doing enough. When I took the stone out my bag it was bottom side up and I saw what else was his rock and it made me smile and relax so I couldn’t agree more, a smile really does go a long way."

Read the full blog here:?

https://suicidepreventionscotland.medium.com/socks-and-rocks-looking-back-on-the-first-quarter-of-2024-f28a9f69980f