Councillors to receive mental health training after spate of suicides

Councillors are to be given suicideprevention training following a spate of tragedies in west Fife.

Elected members in the area have agreed to undertake mental health first-aid training and to attend courses aimed at encouraging people to talk and to build selfesteem.

They will also learn more about the support on offer across Fife so they can point any constituents who may be in crisis in the right direction.

The move follows concern over the number of young men who have taken their own lives in west Fife over the past year.

NHS Fife has set up a steering group to co-ordinate support and reduce stigma surrounding mental health, and is supporting bereaved families.

A new mental health strategy covering the entire region will be launched this month.

Labour councillor Helen Law, convener of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said the move was agreed this week by members keen to help in any way they could.

“We are concerned about the number of suicides in Dunfermline and west Fife and we are keen to understand what services are available for people in distress,” she said.

“Probably everyone in the room had been touched by suicide, if not by a family member or a friend then in the wider community.

“It’s terrible that folk feel so desperate and those who are left behind wondering what else they could have done.”

A report to the committee outlined a number of examples of good local support available to people, including Andy’s Man Club which supports men over the age of 18 who are going through a difficult time to manage their emotional wellbeing.

Coaching for adults who have experienced childhood trauma is also among the services on offer, along with an NHS-run schools programme to support children’s mental health.

Mrs Law said it was important councillors understood the support available.