Educational settings offer

Suicide Prevention Training for Schools

Preparing your staff for the conversations that may follow

From September 2026, revised Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance places greater emphasis on suicide prevention within secondary education.

The guidance recognises that schools may teach young people about suicide prevention, including how to recognise when they or someone they know may need support and where to seek help. It also makes clear that schools should plan carefully for this sensitive content and ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills needed to respond safely.

This creates an important question for schools:

If a lesson in school about suicide prevention leads a young person to approach a member of staff and say, “Can I tell you something?” Will your staff know what to say, how to respond and what to do next?

Curriculum education is an important part of suicide prevention. But education can also create opportunities for young people to disclose thoughts, feelings or experiences that they have previously kept to themselves.

Schools therefore need more than a well-planned lesson.

They need staff who feel prepared to notice concern, respond to disclosures and connect young people with appropriate support.

A whole-school approach to suicide prevention

Our Quality Training Offer for Schools provides two complementary levels of suicide prevention training.

Rather than expecting every member of staff to become a suicide intervention specialist, the approach recognises that different members of the school community have different roles and responsibilities.

The aim is simple: the right training, for the right people, at the right level.

The NALC Approach

NOTICE, ASK, LISTEN, CONNECT

This may include:

• Designated Safeguarding Leads and safeguarding teams
• Pastoral leads and Heads of Year
• Mental health and wellbeing leads
• School counsellors and therapists
• Senior pastoral staff
• SENCOs and inclusion staff where their role includes responding to significant mental-health concerns
• School nurses and other healthcare professionals
• Other staff identified by the school as part of its suicide intervention response

ASIST develops practical suicide intervention skills, including working collaboratively with a pupil to increase immediate safety and develop a plan for keeping them safe.

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Two levels. One consistent approach.

A whole-school approach doesn’t mean giving everyone the same training.

It means creating shared expectations, shared language and clear pathways for responding to concern.

THE WIDER SCHOOL WORKFORCE

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NOTICE, ASK, LISTEN, CONNECT

Building confidence to notice concern, ask about suicide, listen compassionately and connect a young person with appropriate support.

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KEY SAFEGUARDING, PASTORAL & WELLBEING STAFF

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ASIST

Developing more in-depth skills to intervene when a young person is experiencing thoughts of suicide or is at increased risk.

Together, the two levels can help schools develop a consistent, compassionate and appropriately skilled response across the school community.

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Why suicide prevention training for school staff matters

The revised RSHE guidance acknowledges that young people may raise topics including self-harm and suicide and states that, where teachers have concerns about a pupil in relation to self-harm or suicidal ideation or attempts, safeguarding procedures must be followed. It also emphasises the importance of safe, preventative teaching that avoids instructive content, methods and potentially harmful material.

This means that preparing to teach suicide prevention is also about preparing for what may happen after the lesson.

A pupil may:

• ask a difficult or unexpected question
• disclose thoughts of suicide
• talk about a friend or family member
• indicate that they are struggling
• seek out a trusted adult for the first time
• reveal something that requires a safeguarding response

The person they approach may not be the DSL.

It may be a teacher, teaching assistant, receptionist, pastoral member of staff, lunchtime supervisor or another trusted adult.

That is why suicide prevention cannot sit solely with a small number of specialists.

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Supporting your safeguarding responsibilities

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 reinforces the principle that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. All staff are expected to understand their school’s safeguarding systems, recognise indicators of concern and act without delay when a safeguarding concern arises. The 2026 guidance also strengthens the recognition of the relationship between mental health concerns and safeguarding, including serious risks such as self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Our training is designed to complement — not replace — your school’s existing safeguarding policies, procedures and referral pathways.

It can support schools to:

• build staff confidence in talking openly and appropriately about suicide
• develop a shared language for suicide prevention
• reduce fear and uncertainty around asking about suicide
• strengthen compassionate listening and communication
• help staff understand their role when a concern arises
• reinforce appropriate escalation and safeguarding processes
• develop a trained core team with more in-depth intervention skills
• complement existing pastoral, safeguarding and mental-health provision
• support a consistent response across the whole school community

Every adult has a role in suicide prevention. Not every adult needs the same level of training.

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Preparing your school for September 2026 and beyond

The introduction of suicide prevention content within the revised RSHE guidance provides an opportunity to look beyond the curriculum itself.

Ask:

What will happen when a pupil responds to that lesson?

Who will they talk to?

Will staff recognise the significance of what they are saying?

Will they feel confident asking directly about suicide?

Do they know what to do next?

Does your school have a clear pathway from concern, to conversation, to appropriate support?

Our Quality Training Offer can help you build that pathway.

Whether you are reviewing your RSHE curriculum, developing your whole-school mental-health approach, strengthening safeguarding provision or preparing staff for the introduction of suicide prevention education, we can help you consider which level of training is right for which members of your team.

The right training.

For the right people.

At the right level.

Talk to us about your school’s suicide prevention training needs.

Further information, pricing & availability

Have a question? Contact us to discuss how our training can best help you and to find out more about this and other courses.