Cycle Against Suicide is working to train and deploy a network of 'Community Buddies' into communities across Ireland. The Community Buddy is a peer-to-peer support programme, centred around a structured but supportive conversation in a safe and non-judgemental space. It allows an individual to discuss how they are coping - or not coping - and working with the Buddy to discuss and co-produce ways of moving forward to overcome the challenges
Full details at www.cycleagainstsuicide.com/community-buddy-club
Training to become a Community Buddy is 2 full days or four evenings, currently being delivered via Zoom. Community Buddies are educated on how stress and mental health problems can affect individuals. They are instructed in the skills of active listening. They will be trained in the use of a structured interview schedule to ascertain whether individuals might be experiencing significant levels of distress and how to practically manage distressed individuals. Furthermore, they will be trained to mentor individuals to take positive resilience enhancing actions, such as positive coping. They will be trained on how to recognise more complex symptoms requiring professional interventions. They will develop skills based on the principal of motivational mentoring to encourage individuals to speak with a healthcare professional where necessary.