Badge plan alerts suicidal people to listening ear

Special orange badges worn by those who have completed suicide awareness training are designed to alert struggling people in Staffordshire that the wearer is "someone who can provide a listening ear".

The badge scheme was brought in under a plan to create a network of people trained to recognise when someone may be facing a mental health challenge, the county council said.

Those who undertook awarness sessions - offered for free in Staffordshire - may show, via the badge, that they offer "supportive conversations" and can help connect people with services that can offer further assistance.

About nine lives are lost to suicide every month in Staffordshire, the council said.

The highest suicide rates are seen among men aged between 40 and 59, according to the local authority.

Chris Stanley, who works in suicide prevention at the council, explained the awareness course was about building "knowledge, the skills [and] the confidence to be able to have a conversation with somebody about suicide".

"It's a really hard thing to do because your natural instinct says 'I can't talk about that, I can't say that, what if I make it worse'?

"The evidence shows that's not what happens. What you really do is you give somebody an opportunity to speak, to let it out."

Stanley said the course would "help [participants] to understand" that, but added: "It'll talk a little bit about the language, because although it's really good to talk... there are certain... phrases that are better to avoid, [and others] better to use."

More than 2,500 people have been trained under the programme, but what had happened was "they get trained and that's sort of the end of it", he explained.

That was where the badges came in, he said.

The council has said that by creating a visible network of trained people in Staffordshire, it hoped to make it easier for residents to access help.

Stanley stated the badge was essentially a symbol saying "I understand".

"It shows that that person [who's] had a little bit of training... [understands]; they're somebody who would be open to talk to you about suicide if that's something that is on your mind," he said.

Stanley said those trained within the last year could apply for a badge.

But he added that people who had completed the course were not automatically entered into the button scheme.

"It's up to you," he said.

"You could still go on the training... and not be an Orange Button holder.

"But obviously that's what we really like at the end, if you're prepared to do that."

• If you have been affected by the topic discussed in this article, support is available via BBC Action Line.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.