Hereford tattooist urges people to take suicide awareness training

Hereford-based Chris Fable was among the first in the country to take Help for Heroes’ suicide awareness training – and the tattoo artist is urging his contemporaries and members of the public to follow suit.

Fable, 39, who has converted his garage in Dormington Drive into a licensed tattoo studio – Chris Fable Tattooist – was quick to recognise the value of the online training module, which was created by the Armed Forces charity to help identify those who maybe in need of support.

He admitted: “I’ve struggled with my own mental health over the years – and still do – so it resonates with me. Ever since my grandad died, about eight or nine years ago, I took on his mantle of raising funds for veterans, as he worked for the Legion, doing the poppy appeals every year.

“He was in the Royal Engineers and was in the D Day landings. I’m very proud of him and the role he played. Doing what I do sort of keeps his memory alive for me. So, when I heard of this campaign and the training, it was like second nature to get involved. I just like helping people.”

Fable, who has had an interest in illustrating since early childhood, added: “Recently, there was a guy – probably of similar age to me – and he had served for 15 years but was medically discharged. He was really struggling with the transition from service life.

“We are ‘agony aunts’; it’s what we do on a daily basis, whether the client is a veteran or not. You often get their life story when they’re in the chair and this training will prove very useful – not just for tattooists, but the general public as well.”

Research carried out for Help for Heroes, by YouGov*, has shown one in three military veterans have felt suicidal in their lifetime – yet more than half of adult Britons admit they would not know how to help someone struggling with suicidal thoughts.

The survey also revealed 65 per cent of the veterans are more likely to turn to a family member or friend for support than to a trained professional (25 per cent).

So, the Charity is looking to bridge this shortfall in knowledge by creating ‘suicide-safer’ communities. It is offering free training, available to all, in the hope more people will be able to identify veterans needing support and know how to signpost them to available support services to prevent another life being lost.

Lis Skeet, Services Director at Help for Heroes, added: “As the research suggests, veterans often don’t speak to professionals first. This initiative aims to find a way of opening the conversation with someone they trust and training them to be able to spot the signs. In doing so we may well prevent lives being lost to suicide.”

Working with Zero Suicide Alliance, the Charity has developed a 30-minute online training course, available to the general public, that will help anyone to open up a conversation, advising on how to spot the signs, and to assess what someone is really saying when it comes to preventing death by suicide.

Fable started tattooing eight years ago, after gaining an apprenticeship through the local Job Centre. Within two years he’d opened his first studio in Manchester, before moving to Hereford to take up a job opportunity three years ago.

He said: “I specialise in black and grey imagery, light and shade. I don’t tend to do much colour work. In this area we get a lot of veterans coming in, plus I work with Phoenix Veterans now and offer a veterans’ discount.”

Help for Heroes’ suicide awareness training is a part of its wider Suicide Awareness and Self-Help project, made possible through funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust as part of its ‘One is Too Many’ programme, designed to reduce veteran suicides.

Help for Heroes champions the Armed Forces community and helps them live well after service. The Charity helps them, and their families, to recover and get on with their lives. It has already supported more than 27,000 people and won’t stop until every veteran gets the support they deserve.