As the UK speeds towards the winter months, teetering on the edge of a second national lockdown, we must consider the impact that the government’s tougher measures might have on the mental health and wellbeing of the already battle-worn general public.

It was reported during the first lockdown that 80 per cent of young people felt that the coronavirus had severely affected their mental health. With the 16-24 age bracket at higher risk of suicide than most, our concern is that a second national lockdown could deepen the UK’s mental health crisis and drive these figures even higher.

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It’s a sad fact that more people lose their lives to suicide each year than to cancers of the brain, stomach, ovary or kidney.

Last year, there were 5,691 suicides registered in England and Wales. That’s not just 5,691 lives lost, it’s 5,691 bereaved families and countless numbers of friends, colleagues and acquaintances left devastated by something that could have been prevented, if people only had the skills to know how.

This is where education comes in.

Destigmatising conversations around mental health and suicide

At NCFE, we are committed to our core purpose to “promote and advance learning” to create a fairer, more inclusive society through the power of education. Most of our qualifications are designed to support learners to secure employment and progress within their career, however, alongside esteemed colleagues from Big Dog Little Dog (BDLD), LearnBox and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), we recently launched a series of qualifications that have the potential to be not only life changing, but life saving.

Designed to destigmatise conversations around mental health and suicide, our new level 2 and level 3 qualifications in suicide awareness and prevention are the first Ofqual-regulated awards of their kind to be solely targeted at this sensitive subject.

Recognising their value and potential for good, we are delighted to announce that these groundbreaking qualifications are now eligible for funding through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Education has always been upheld as the key to understanding. By providing learners with the skills they need to face conversations around mental health and suicide with confidence and positivity through qualifications like those we’ve launched, the education sector can play a vital role in helping to reduce the number of lives lost needlessly to suicide.

Coupling the accessibility of the level 2 qualification’s digital programme together with the funding available through ESFA, we hope that thousands of learners will undertake the programmes and that, through this, we’ll make a real difference.

The level 2 award in suicide awareness is accessible via the adult education budget (local flexibility) and also under 16-19 funding. The level 3 award in steps towards suicide reduction is eligible for funding under 16-19.

David Gallagher is the chief executive at NCFE