Free QPR training to be offered at RAM Center

The Moorcroft Interfaith Community, the Be Well Coalition, Crook County Mental Health and the R.A.M. Center are joining together to present a free QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention. This event is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, October 14, 2019 at the R.A.M. Center located on Highway 14 between Carlile and the Hulett turn off.

The physical address is 18048 US-14, Sundance, WY 82729. Doug Donnell and Patty Dykes will be the presenters; both are certified trainers.

QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention is a 1-2 hour educational program designed to teach lay and professional “gatekeepers” the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond. Gatekeepers can include anyone who is strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide (e.g. parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, caseworkers, police officers). 

The process follows three steps: (1) Question the individual’s desire or intent regarding suicide, (2) Persuade the person to seek and accept help, and (3) Refer the person to appropriate resources.

Suicidal people use indirect language. They hint at what they are planning to do. As an example, a person might call a hotline and say, “I know it is too late for me, but can you recommend a counselor for my wife?”

A teenager’s query to crisis line volunteer: “Is 24 aspirins and a bottle of vodka lethal?” A teenager to a friend: “Everyone would be better off without me.”

A boy who killed himself only minutes later put this question to his highly religious mother following a severe family quarrel, “Mom, do you think God has a place in heaven for a boy like me?”

In this last true and tragic case, the mother responded “yes” to the direct question but missed the underlying message. Only moments later, she heard the fatal gunshot.

In all these examples the word suicide does not appear, yet each statement contains a hint that the speaker, or someone else, may be considering suicide. Thus, each of these statements is a suicide warning sign.

Can you imagine the mother’s feelings of guilt for missing the significance of her son’s question? Guilt and suicide go together like bread and butter. (Examples are from Ask a Question, Save a Life By Paul Quinnett, PH.D.)

Please don’t risk missing the warning signs of the impending suicide of a loved one. Plan to attend this QPR Training to learn what to look for and what to do about it if you suspect someone is contemplating ending their life.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information or to reserve your spot please call or text Rev. Monte Reichenberg 217-251-1182 or email [email protected]. Or call the R.A.M. Center at 307-257-3193. RSVP appreciated but not required.

Suicide facts:

Talking about suicide will not plant the idea in someone’s head if they are not already thinking about it.

20 percent of all suicide victims see a doctor the day of their suicide.

40 percent have seen a doctor during the week prior.

Evidence indicates that many of those contemplating suicide tend not to self-refer, resist treatment, often use drugs and/or alcohol as a psychological pain medication, hide their level of despair and go undetected and untreated.

Therefore, they need someone to intercede. Someone to care. They need a gatekeeper.