Suicide prevention training for the community
MARQUETTE — You may have heard of C.P.R. to help keep someone alive until medics arrive, but what if someone is at risk for suicide? The Marquette health department held a public training session to teach people about Q.P.R.
Q.P.R. stands for question, persuade and refer. These are simple steps to remember to tackle a touch situation-helping prevent someone attempt suicide. Thursday night the Peter White Public Library hosted a Gatekeeper training session to talk about the stigma of suicide and what one person could do to make a difference.
Health Educator for the Marquette County Health Department, Sarah Derwin says, “What we wanted to do was offer community members the opportunity to come and become gatekeepers, which means for us that they’re prepared to understand the signs of suicide and then how to, what to do and how to refer someone if they suspect somebody may be suicidal.”
The event discussed facts, myths, statistics, clues and warning signs of someone who may be at risk of attempting suicide.
An important message at the gatekeeper training is that anybody could die by suicide anytime or anywhere. There are no real statistics about any season during the year where suicides happen the most. Some people stereotypically think that suicides happen the most during the winter or during the holidays, but there really isn’t any significant spike. So gatekeepers always need to be aware of direct and indirect cues.
Direct and indirect cues could be verbal or behavioral. The library decided to host this event as an extension of their Your Mind Matters program.
Programs Director for the Peter White Public Library, Margaret Boyle says, “The library is all about life-long-learning. It’s never too late to learn anything new, and if whatever you learn can help someone, can help save a life, can help someone through a tough time-those are all wonderful, valuable things. And then our work with the public here is also rather important to know as much as we can to try to help people. As a matter of fact the library staff has gone through the Q.P.R. training as well.”
For more information about resources on suicide prevention and ways to get help click here.
Resources for prevention:
National Suicide hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Call: (906) 482-HELP (4357)
Text: (906) 35-NEEDS (63337)