‘Three minutes to save a life’: addressing emotional distress in students to mitigate the risk of suicide
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

‘Three minutes to save a life’: addressing emotional distress in students to mitigate the risk of suicide

Clare Dickens Senior lecturer, Mental health nursing, Faculty of Education Health and Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, England
Stuart Guy Senior lecturer, Mental health nursing, School of Health and Social Care, University of Gloucestershire, England

This article outlines how the University of Wolverhampton aims to develop a whole-systems approach in a training programme to mitigate the risk of suicide in students. It was decided that suicide mitigation was not just the role of healthcare professionals; all university staff should be equipped with the skills to offer support should they find themselves in the role of the first responder.

The ‘three minutes to save a life’ programme is focused on increasing participant awareness and compassion, eradicating stigma around students experiencing emotional distress and promoting student resilience in developing active strategies to seek help. The programme is aimed at creating a safer and more responsive community, and one that is confident and compassionate towards those who experience mental health difficulties; there is a proven need for this training at a higher education institution level.

Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2019.e1290

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

sguy1@glos.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Dickens C, Guy S (2019) ‘Three minutes to save a life’: addressing emotional distress in students to mitigate the risk of suicide. Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2019.e1290

Published online: 11 March 2019

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