We work to raise awareness of suicide with the aim of supporting suicide awareness and prevention across different communities.

We use insights from research, professional expertise and lived experiences to:

  • Develop free online training courses
  • Host online suicide awareness sessions and webinars
  • Provide accessible suicide related data insights and dashboards
  • Share learning and support a range of suicide prevention related activities, projects and initiatives
  • Share factual information that can help breakdown stigma

Working in collaboration and partnership with a wide range of people and organisations brings together different skills and expertise. Many of these are ZSA members who share our zero suicide ambition. Their support helps ensure the work we do meets the needs of different groups of people. 

Find out more about some of our key partnerships and collaborations

The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) launched with a FREE online training course in November 2017. Since then, we’ve expanded and updated our training to meet the needs of different audiences.

Our training timeline

The table below includes both current courses and earlier versions, showing how our offer has grown over time.

Course

Launch dates

Suicide Awareness Training (20-minute course)
Replaced by Version 2 (2024)

November 2017

Suicide Awareness Training (gateway/short course) 
Replaced by Supporting a Stranger training (2026) 

May 2018

Social Isolation Training (step-up)
Evolved to Social Isolation and Loneliness Training (2025)

June 2020

University Students Suicide Awareness Training

January 2022

Suicide Awareness Training - Welsh translation

March 2022

Veteran Suicide Awareness Training

September 2022

Suicide Awareness Training for Taxi Drivers

March 2023

Suicide Awareness Training for Probation Staff

September 2023

Prison Suicide Awareness Training

October 2023

Autism and Suicide Awareness Training

April 2024

Suicide Awareness Training - version 2

September 2024
Social Isolation and Loneliness Training May 2025
Healthcare Staff and Suicide Awareness Training September 2025
Supporting a Stranger Suicide Awareness Training
Replaced gateway training		 April 2026

 

In addition to keeping the training free and available on the ZSA website, the team regularly hosts and attends events to share learning and insights that can support suicide awareness and prevention.

Our aim is to keep training opportunities free and easy for anyone to access so that more people feel confident and able to talk to someone who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts. We believe this can help save lives.  

Why we update our training

We review and refresh our training to reflect new evidence, emerging risks and feedback from the people and communities we work with. This helps us keep our courses relevant, accessible and supportive for anyone who wants to feel more confident talking to someone who may be struggling.

Suicide is complex and rarely the result of one single cause. But there are known risk factors and understanding research and data around these can be helpful.

In June 2020, the ZSA launched its first suicide resource map to share over 100 indicators relating to suicide and suicide risk from multiple sources. This has since evolved to the current suicide data map and dashboards and the data is updated each year. 

We also carry out primary research and literature reviews to analyse, summarise and evaluate existing research around suicide related topics and use this to inform our work.