The University of Strathclyde has adopted a new learning resource to help its staff and students to engage in supportive conversations on mental health and suicide.
It is the first university in Scotland to adopt the ‘Ask, Tell, Respond’ resource, developed by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and NHS Education Scotland (NES), as part of its ambitious plans around wellbeing.
Kevin Donovan, Strathclyde’s Workplace Wellbeing Manager, said: “Prioritising support for mental health for our staff and students is key to the success of our University wellbeing strategies and to enabling the whole Strathclyde community to thrive.
Taking time to talk about mental health is an important aspect of this, but we also want to build on our strategic commitment of being people oriented, innovative, collaborative, ambitious and bold.
“Strathclyde prides itself on living its core values every day and this exciting collaboration with NES and PHS is an innovative and ambitious example of multiagency collaboration in action.”
Ambitious plans
The Ask, Tell, Respond training, along with some extra supporting information specific to Strathclyde, is now available to every student and staff member.
In 2023, the University appointed Tony Kane as a full-time Suicide Prevention Project Coordinator to develop Strathclyde’s own suicide prevention strategy.
He said: “This initiative is part of our ambitious plans around wellbeing and will build on the considerable safeguarding work that has been undertaken in recent years through our Safe360 safeguarding framework.
“We are also set to publish our suicide prevention strategy in 2025 and, as far as we are aware we are the first university in Scotland to appoint a full-time suicide prevention project coordinator to work on this.
“Establishing and maintaining partnerships of this nature will keep us aligned with current national priorities and ensure we stay firmly rooted in our commitment to incorporate wellbeing and safety into every area of university life.
We hope by making this available internally it will increase accessibility, allow us to monitor its impact and provide extra safeguarding specific to our setting.
Today is World Mental Health Day with this year's theme being, “it's time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”.
Compassionate conversations
Ruth Glassborow, Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland said: “We welcome the partnership with the University of Strathclyde to embed the Ask Tell Respond suite of resources into their learning programmes.
“Using these will support the University community to respond more effectively to those in distress and encourage compassionate conversations, and an open dialogue on mental health. We look forward to hearing how the resources have helped to increase the understanding of what it means to be mentally healthy, for students and staff.”
Karen Wilson, Deputy Chief Executive (Clinical) and Director of Nursing, (Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals) in NES said: “Since 2019, NES, in partnership with Public Health Scotland, have developed a suite of mental health improvement and suicide prevention resources to support education and workforce development.
“Following a successful collaboration over the last year with The University of Strathclyde, today on World Mental Health Day, we are pleased to extend the Ask, Tell Respond mental health and suicide prevention resources to the workforce and wider community within the University. We look forward to sharing and further developing this collaboration in the future.”