Empowering medical students and future health workers with skills in suicide prevention
By Rory Keddie, 1 April 2025
Fellow’s Profile
Rory Keddie
Fellow’s Profile
Rory Keddie
Equipping UK Medical Students with the Skills to Prevent Suicide
Fellowship
Themes
Focus
Equipping medical students with the skills to prevent suicide
Countries
Fellowship year
2023
Supported by
Locality
London
Contact
Biography
I'm a trustee at Olly's Future, a suicide prevention charity founded in memory of Olly Hare, one of my closest childhood friends. We lost Olly to suicide on 14th February 2016, two days before his 23rd birthday. In the aftermath of Olly's passing, I supported Ann Feloy, Olly's Mum, in setting up a group to celebrate Olly's life and find ways to prevent suicide. What began as a way to channel our grief has grown to become a registered charity operating at a national level.
We developed Dr SAMS (Suicide Awareness in Medical Students), a training programme which has now equipped over 1,000 medical students at four leading medical schools with suicide prevention skills. However, across the majority of medical schools in the UK, suicide prevention is missing from the core curriculum.
My Fellowship project is focused on suicide prevention training for medical students. I will visit initiatives in the USA, Canada and India to learn about training techniques and their efficacy. This global research will propel us to create world-leading training to become part of the core curriculum at all medical schools in the UK.
Ideas
Activity
Scaling Suicide Prevention: Lessons for the UK from India, the USA, and Canada
In memory of his friend Olly, who died by suicide in 2017, Rory Keddie set out to explore how medical students can be better prepared to support people in crisis. His Fellowship took him to India, the USA, and Canada, where he learned from innovative approaches using technology, policy change, and university frameworks. Building on his work with the Dr SAMS project, which has already trained over 2,800 UK medical students, Rory is now working to expand training and engage policymakers so suicide prevention becomes a core part of every doctor’s education.
By Rory Keddie, 9 October 2025
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Ideas
Activity
Scaling Suicide Prevention: Lessons for the UK from India, the USA, and Canada
In memory of his friend Olly, who died by suicide in 2017, Rory Keddie set out to explore how medical students can be better prepared to support people in crisis. His Fellowship took him to India, the USA, and Canada, where he learned from innovative approaches using technology, policy change, and university frameworks. Building on his work with the Dr SAMS project, which has already trained over 2,800 UK medical students, Rory is now working to expand training and engage policymakers so suicide prevention becomes a core part of every doctor’s education.
By Rory Keddie, 9 October 2025
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
