Around 200 under-16s lose their lives to suicide in the UK every year.
The Breaking the Silence programme was created by fellow charity Grassroots Suicide Prevention in conjunction with Liverpool John Moores University.
It helps young people identify signs of suicidal thoughts in their peers and provides guidance on how to respond.
The programme of three lessons uses a video about two school pupils, one of whom is experiencing suicidal thoughts, to engage the students in interactive activities and discussion.
Its main purpose is to open up conversations about mental health and suicide.
The training programme was initially piloted in McLaren High School in Callander and Wallace High School in Stirling.
John said: “Stirlingshire schools have picked this up quite nicely and we’re now into Clackmannanshire.
“Some private schools have also asked us to be involved which is good, too.”
John said the reaction to the programme had been positive “without exception.”
He said: “We have people who contact us in the days and weeks after a presentation to say “you’ve caused me to realise where I’m at and I want to talk””.
John said he had been contacted by the initially-sceptical mother of two children, days after they had received the training.
She said her son had come to her after being “empowered” by the training to tell her he “did not want to be here anymore.”
John said: “So she was able to open up that conversation, they got an urgent GP appointment and he was taken to a place of security and support for himself, and he got through his suicidal crisis.
“And we have any number of these stories.”
