Posted on: 26 February 2024
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership's suicide prevention campaign work over the past year has been shortlisted for a top award.
The NHS Communicate Awards shortlists have just been revealed, with WY HCP's suicide prevention programme work reaching the final of the 'Best Behaviour Change or Public Health Campaign' category, where judges were looking for campaigns which "which have demonstrated a clear impact on behaviours or have successfully engaged on a public health issue".
The WY HCP nomination covers suicide prevention work over the past year including the launch of our 'Suicide Prevention Champions' campaign and progressing our ongoing 'Check In With Your Mate' campaign - which both aim to raise awareness of the part everyone can play in helping to reduce suicide rates and provide the knowledge and tools to reach out to others, help break stigma and signpost to the support available across West Yorkshire.
Our Suicide Prevention Champions campaign launched in the run-up to World Suicide Prevention Day, on September 10 last year, and has so far seen 347 Champions sign up, with more joining every week. 
Signing up is via an online form and Champions watch a 20 minute training video by Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) and make a pledge - big or small - for how they will challenge stigma, raise awareness and take suicide prevention action at home, in communities, workplaces or online.
Champions have been signing up from all across West Yorkshire, with 82 per cent requesting to receive monthly newsletters, 74 per cent to receive invites to our quarterly network meetings and 81 per cent requesting to be linked up with their local suicide prevention networks.
In September alone, the launch of the campaign correlated with a 135 per cent increase in the uptake of ZSA training in West Yorkshire - equating to 312 hours of additional suicide prevention training.
That launch month also saw nearly 2,000 additional visits to our website, with over 8,000 unique visits to the website in total over the 30 days.
Pledge examples from Champions so far include:
- "I will be encouraging family and friends to take this training."
- "To make the question 'Are you feeling suicidal?' less taboo and to look for the warning signs with everyone I interact with."
- "I pledge to talk to my mates within my football club about suicide prevention and services for support."
- "I want to share posters and leaflets with people in my community."
The campaign has also led to suicide prevention work within organisations including the creation of graphics for big screens in GP surgeries, the use of office screensavers, collective viewings of the ZSA video, recruitment of Champions at events and as a call-to-action following suicide prevention-related training.
The award nomination also covers work on our ongoing Check In With Your Mate campaign which has grown significantly this past year. 
Thanks to support and funding from partner organisations, Bradford Council and Leeds City Council, the campaign has been reaching thousands of sports fans through promotion from major sports clubs including Leeds Rhinos, Bradford City AFC, Bradford Bulls, Keighley Cougars and Yorkshire County Cricket.
The clubs have been spreading the campaign's messages on their social media accounts - attracting tens of thousands of impressions - as well as players warming up in branded T-shirts and graphics beamed to fans via big screens on match days.
Between April and September last year, an average of 250 people per month sought support through www.
Both Check In With Your Mate and the Suicide Prevention Champions campaigns align with the WY HCP's commitment to inrease awareness of suicide prevention and break stigma - as highlighted in the suicide prevention programme's five-year strategy - and aim to help lower West Yorkshire's above-average suicide rate, a priority listed in the Partnership's ten big ambitions.
The NHS Communicate Conference and Awards are delivered in partnership with NHS Providers, NHS Confederation and the Centre for Health Communications Research (CHCR).
The ceremony will be held online, on Thursday March 7, hosted by British actress, writer and comedian Jo Caulfield.