Ninety minutes on asking properly.
Six short videos for anyone close enough to notice: colleagues, managers, friends, family. Free, no sign-up, and no qualifications needed, just being near someone.
Who it's for
Anyone who's close enough to notice when someone's gone quiet. You don't need to be a manager, have any HR power, or know anything about mental health already. Most of the people who take it are just colleagues and friends who'd like to be a bit better at the conversation.
It isn't clinical training, so if you're a clinician it'll feel basic, and it won't turn anyone into a counsellor. Nobody wants you to be one.
What you'll be able to do afterwards
- Spot the quieter signs someone's struggling, even when they look completely fine
- Start the conversation without it feeling like an HR form, and ask a second time when you get "fine"
- Listen without jumping in to fix it, which is harder than it sounds
- Ask someone directly whether they're thinking about suicide, and know what to do with the answer
- Know when to hand over, and who to
The six videos
Video 1: Why the ones struggling look fine
How struggling hides behind jokes, turning up and "I'm alright", and why people keep quiet. Includes why three in four suicides in the UK are men, and what the quieter signs actually look like day to day.
Video 2: Your role and your limits
You're not a counsellor, a therapist or a crisis line. What's yours to carry, what really isn't, and why being near someone counts for more than being qualified. If you're a manager, it's honest about the power difference too.
Video 3: Asking anyway
Opening lines that don't feel awkward, picking your moment (the walk to the car park beats a meeting room), and why the second ask is usually the one that counts.
Video 4: Listening without fixing
Why advice tends to shut people down, and how to keep someone talking with open questions, a bit of silence and saying back what you heard. The hardest easy skill there is.
Video 5: When they tell you
The first few minutes after someone opens up. What to say, what to avoid, and why you shouldn't promise to keep everything secret when you might not be able to.
Video 6: Risk and handing over
How to ask about suicide directly (asking doesn't put the idea in anyone's head), what to do with the answer, and how to get someone to real help, at work or anywhere else.
Practice as you go
Each video ends with two short scenarios, one at work and one outside it. They're for thinking through, not marking, and there's a note on what a good answer might look like.
On your own, or at work
It works either way. Take it on your own and it'll show you what to find out about your workplace: whether there's an EAP, occupational health, first aiders or a written route for when someone needs more. If your workplace runs MANA, you'll already know who the named volunteers are and what the route is.
Want it where you work? Bring MANA to work →
At the end
If you'd like a digital badge, leave your name and email (and your workplace, if you want). The badge is yours to share. It's only shared with your employer if you say so, and it doesn't count towards anything for your workplace.
How it was made
The course is built on research into listening, motivational interviewing and how depression hides, especially in people who seem fine.
The crisis numbers are at the end of every video. Including for you.