- Last Updated on Monday, 27 February 2023 03:56
By Caryn Jooste
Suicide is one of the most complex of human behaviors. It is also one of the most difficult things for people to talk about yet teachers, coaches and school administrators, police officers, librarians, priests and many others may find themselves in a situation in which it is necessary to do so. It is in fact these “front-line” personnel that may make all the difference preventing suicide just by listening and questioning. QPR training teaches you how.
Research suggests that the survival rate of individuals experiencing a heart attack is higher in places where the general public have training in CPR (QPR Institute, 2016). That is, those who witness someone having a potentially life threatening heart attack can help save that person’s life if they have been trained in CPR. It is no accident that QPR sounds similar to CPR. The founder of the QPR Institute, Dr. Paul Quinnett, conceived of the acronym as a way to draw attention to a life-saving strategy for those contemplating suicide or those who are stressed to their limit. QPR stands for Q: Question, P: Persuade, R: Refer. The idea is, if we intervene in a mental health crisis, just like we use CPR in a physical crisis, we can save lives! Importantly, QPR is not a form of treatment or a replacement for mental health counseling. Instead, it is a strategy a gatekeeper can use to help save a life. According to QPR teaching, a gatekeeper is a person who may be in a position to identify possible warning signs that someone may be considering suicide.
You may, like so many others, be concerned that talking about suicide to someone may in fact cause a person to think about or consider it. This is a common myth that is simply not true. We cannot make someone think about suicide. QPR instructors like to say, “A person is either thinking about suicide, or they are not” (QPR Institute, 2016). Trained gatekeepers of the QPR method can make all the difference by allowing for time and creating a space for someone to talk about what they are feeling and experiencing without concern of judgement.
We offer QPR training through Outreach Teen & Family Services by a Certified QPR Instructor. Outreach is a community counseling agency offering services to young people (children, teens and emerging adults). We provide training to numerous institutions and organizations including schools, universities, libraries, and community centers. The training provides you with the language and tools you may need to help someone in distress and works to break down the barriers people often encounter when talking about suicide.
Please contact our program manager, Maggie Zangara to set up the training. Call us at 412-561-5405 or visit our website at www.outreachteen.org for more information about other services we provide.
Please note that Outreach does not offer crisis services or response and does not have evening and weekend on-call coverage. In an emergency please go to your local emergency room or call RESOLVE at 1- 888-796-8226.
