Development of ASIST in Scotland

ASIST was developed in Canada in 1983 by a partnership of four mental health professionals (Richard Ramsay, Bryan Tanney, Roger Tierney and William Lang) in conjunction with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the government of Alberta. They worked to develop a suicide intervention training programme that would be suitable for both professional and other caregivers. The partnership evolved to create LivingWorks Education Inc. in 1991, a community services organisation aimed at providing suicide prevention education and consultation.

The first workshop was held in Scotland in 2003 and we now have over 300 ASIST Trainers and more than 14,000 partcicpants have been trained in intervention skills. There are ASIST Trainers in each local authority area in Scotland coming from wide and diverse backgrounds.

Working in partnership with key national and voluntary agencies such as the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), ChildLine, Breathing Space, Samaritans, universities, police, drug addictions service, NHS, prison and the armed forces has led to training being delivered in increasingly broad community settings.