Trigger warning: suicide
A wellbeing champion is calling for specialist mental health training for a group of young people in North Yorkshire, York and Selby.
Ryan Laybourne, a host of the mental health advisory group Nothing About Us Without Us – which is supported by our Trust – recently used his suicide prevention training to support a young man in difficulty.
Now the 21-year-old is hoping that funding can be secured to roll out the specialist tuition to other group members – to prevent possible tragedies in the future.
“Both I and the young people in the group just want to make the world a little bit better by helping as many people as possible,” he said.
“I found the training absolutely vital in the situation, as it gave me confidence, and we would like others to benefit from it too.”
Raising awareness of mental health
Ryan, a mental health champion for children and young people, struggled silently with bullying as a teenager.
His life changed, however, when he met Claire Atherton of HeadStart in Hull – a Lottery-funded five-year project raising awareness of mental health in young people.
Ryan took on a co-creation advocacy role at 16, helping to organise campaigns including You are Not Alone – which led to him taking specialist Papyrus suicide prevention training.
“You never know when you might need that knowledge,” said Ryan. “Just recently I was out walking when I noticed a young guy sitting on the pavement looking withdrawn.
“I asked him if he was OK, but he didn’t respond. At first, I thought he was watching the sunset, so I walked on, but something inside me made me stop and turn around.”
Ryan approached the man gently – using the body language techniques learned in Papyrus training.
“I sat down next to him and asked if he was OK,” said Ryan. “At this point he started crying and I tried talking to him, telling him my name and actively listening to him.
“I used training techniques to engage with him and, finally, he agreed to walk with me. At that point he started opening up, saying he couldn’t see a future for himself.”
The man’s family took him home and he is now receiving help from services. The next day, Ryan received a text from the man’s relatives – thanking him for saving his life.
Training to prevent tragedy
“What I did was instinctive. I simply knew what I had to do, thanks to my training,” said Ryan. “This is why I would like our group to be able to offer that training to young people.
“I believe if more people were trained in suicide prevention, and felt confident in dealing with people’s distress, then more people would be safe in the future.”
Nothing About Us Without Us is open to people aged up to 25. Anyone with lived experience or an interest in mental health is welcome to join. Currently the group has representation from 12 partnership agencies.
The group is supported by North Yorkshire, York and Selby co-creation lead Abi Collins, of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), who said:
“The aim of Nothing About Us Without Us is to listen to young people, and work collaboratively with them, to improve services across all the organisations.
“Senior management from our Trust have attended the group and are actively supportive of the aims of the young people.”
An inspiration to others
The actions of Ryan, who has been nominated for Volunteers Voice Award for his work across Hull, were today praised by Abi, who added:
“I feel privileged to work with such inspirational people like Ryan. I would very much support his idea of rolling out the specialist training to our young people.”
- If you are interested in finding out more about the Nothing About Us Without Us group contact abi.collins@nhs.net. You can also find out more information by watching the group’s video here: Nothing About Us Without Us (youtube.com). If you feel you need someone to talk to, the Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123. Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 41 41.
