The e-learning course offers practical, evidence-based advice on how to recognise and support people in crisis, including those experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Minister for mental health, Baroness Merron, said: ‘Behind every suicide statistic is a person – someone's child, parent, partner or friend whose life mattered deeply. As a Government, we refuse to accept that any life should be lost to suicide when proper support could make all the difference.

‘This new suicide awareness course is one of the many ways we are working to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide, including delivering the Suicide Prevention Strategy, rolling out 24/7 mental health neighbourhood centres and transforming mental health services with an extra £688 million.'

The course builds on new national guidance issued earlier this year, which marked a shift towards a more holistic, person-centred approach to suicide prevention, rather than risk prediction and draws on evidence and lived experience.

The course is designed for use across all roles and settings and is available for mental health practitioners in the NHS, but also to those working in the voluntary, private and charity sectors.