“I want to deliver Connections suicide awareness and prevention training in my organisation or community.” 

Become a Connections Suicide Prevention Senior Ambassador 

Connections Train the Trainer is for experienced presenters, facilitators and professionals who want to take high-quality suicide-prevention training back into the communities, workplaces, organisations and networks they already serve. 

The pathway prepares suitable participants to become a Connections Suicide Prevention Senior Ambassador .

Once fully approved, Senior Ambassadors can deliver: 

• Connections Link Life 
• Connections Suicide Awareness – Adult 
• Connections Suicide Awareness – Youth 

At present, this pathway does not approve trainers to deliver Connections Help Life. 

Built in Northern Ireland. Trusted across Northern Ireland. 

Connections was created here, for the people and communities we serve. When COVID disrupted access to many international suicide-prevention programmes, Fresh Minds Education continued to adapt and deliver. Connections has grown quietly through community trust, public-sector commissioning, word of mouth and the people who have experienced the training and chosen to carry it forward. 

Connections has not grown because of a large marketing infrastructure. It has grown because communities, organisations and commissioners have continued to choose it. 

Across 2023/24 and 2024/25, Department of Health figures show that Connections Link Life was the most widely delivered programme among Connections, ASIST and safeTALK, with: 

This represented more than half of the courses delivered across those three programmes and almost 45% of participants trained. 

Across the wider life of Connections, 15,905 people have now received suicide-prevention training, with the figure updated annually. 

Why Train the Trainer? 

Training individuals is important. 

A Connections Senior Ambassador can bring suicide-prevention knowledge and practical skills directly into the places where they already have relationships, credibility and reach. 

Who is the T4T pathway for? 

This pathway is for people who are already confident presenters, trainers or facilitators and who have the professional maturity required to work safely with sensitive subject matter. 

Applicants should: 

• have completed Connections Link Life in person as a participant; 
• ideally also have completed the online version; 
• complete the Professional Competency Builder (PCB) course before attending T4T; 
• already have experience presenting, facilitating or training groups; 
• understand professional boundaries, including safeguarding, disclosures and appropriate referral; 
• meet relevant PHA quality standards for trainers and managers of training; 
• have completed ASIST or an equivalent recognised professional suicide-prevention training; 
• have access to an organisation, community or network where they can realistically deliver Connections training; 
• be willing to use the required FME evaluation and monitoring systems; 
• be able to purchase or hold the resources required for delivery; 
• commit to delivering at least two Connections Link Life programmes each calendar year once active. 

This is therefore not an entry-level trainer course.

It is a professional development and approval pathway for people who already have the foundations required to deliver sensitive suicide-prevention training well.  

Not everyone will necessarily complete the pathway at exactly the same pace. 

Where an observed delivery does not yet meet the required standard, further supported delivery and observation may be required before approval. 

That is an important part of maintaining the quality and safety of the programme. 

Senior Ambassadors are not simply handed a slide deck and left on their own. 

Approved trainers receive access to the Connections training infrastructure, including: 

The expectation, however, is that Senior Ambassadors actively build Connections within the networks they already have rather than relying on Fresh Minds Education to find and organise all of their delivery opportunities. 

Fresh Minds Education is a small charity and our role is to provide the programme, standards, support and infrastructure — not to act as a booking agency for every independent trainer. 

Senior Ambassadors are expected to: 

• deliver the programme in line with the approved Connections model; 
• maintain appropriate professional and safeguarding standards; 
• use FME participant evaluation systems; 
• complete facilitator reports; 
• ensure participant evaluation information is returned through the FME monitoring system; 
• maintain the minimum annual delivery requirement; 
• use current programme materials and updates. 

Evaluation information comes directly back to Fresh Minds Education, allowing us to monitor the quality, reach and outcomes of Connections delivery across Northern Ireland. 

The full Connections Train the Trainer pathway is: 

£750 

Where funding is available, Fresh Minds Education may offer subsidised places. 

A typical subsidised fee is: 

£300 

This largely covers the core trainer resource kit and materials. 

Subsidised places come with an additional commitment. 

Where FME has substantially subsidised the cost of training, the Senior Ambassador will be expected to help extend the reach of the programme by planning and delivering three Connections training programmes during their first year. 

These deliveries should contribute to FME’s funded regional commitments — for example within the Northern Trust area or through an organisation with genuine regional reach. 

The three first-year deliveries also contribute towards the trainer’s normal annual delivery requirement. 

Connections is built around practical change, not simply course attendance. 

Across more than 1,800 participants evaluated over three years from 2023–2026, the programme recorded substantial improvements across the areas required for safe and confident suicide-prevention intervention. 

On average: 

• understanding of the complex reasons behind emotional distress, poor mental health and suicide improved by 52%;
• awareness of protective factors, emotional wellbeing and self-care improved by 57%; 
• confidence to support someone experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of suicide improved by 93%; 
• practical skills using the Connect-4-Ways model improved by 82%; 
• knowledge of support agencies and where to connect someone for help improved by 67%; 
• willingness to seek support for personal emotional distress or suicidal thoughts improved by 58%.  

Across the three years, participants showed an average overall improvement of approximately 67% across suicide-prevention knowledge, skills and confidence. 

Made by people, for people 

One of the things that makes Connections different is where it comes from. 

Its content has been shaped by people who understand suicide not only professionally but personally. 

That includes: 

• people bereaved by suicide; 
• people who have supported someone through suicidal distress; 
• suicide-prevention practitioners; 
• experienced trainers; 
• community organisations; 
• people working directly with children, adults, families and communities. 

Some of the people who now deliver Connections carry their own experience of suicide bereavement into this work. 

That experience is not used for shock or drama. 

It informs a programme that is grounded, compassionate, practical and respectful of the realities people face. 

Connections is made by people, for people.