LIFT Core Beliefs about Suicide Prevention

Transcription

1 PO Box 211, Hessel, MI W. M-134, Cedarville, MI LIFT Core Beliefs about Suicide Prevention Suicide can be prevented! Gatekeeper, Intervention, & Coping Skills are the primary content of LIFT training programs Relationships based on trust set the context of any suicide intervention. Suicide prevention is a cooperative community health process that begins with creating a safe environment. Large numbers of people can be taught gatekeeper skills. Thoughts, feelings & sensations are interrelated, complex, and understandable. Help-seeking is encouraged by open, direct and honest talk about suicide. 1

2 LIFT Mission Statement LIFT is an organization dedicated to supporting youth in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, by identifying the challenges they may face, and offering the means to both resolve them and evolve beyond the limitations imposed by them. LIFT will identify and provide resources that support the well being of our young and their families LIFT will work cooperatively with organizations, programs, and agency's already in place, create new resources and assist in making them available to those in need. LIFT Purpose Statement The LIFT foundation was created in response to the alarming number of suicides in the area. LIFT has grown out of the commitment the community has for our youth. Mackinac County is an economically disadvantaged area with a history of low median income and high unemployment. Most troubled youth can not afford to seek professional help. One priority of LIFT is to bridge the gap between the individual needs of our youth and the limited availability of local counseling and support services. 2

3 LIFT Key Considerations LIFT is unique in that we are a nonprofit group of diversified individuals dedicated to the elimination, or even the thought of suicide within our youth. LIFT was the first organization to introduce Restorative Justice plans in Mackinac County as an alternative to imprisonment. LIFT will provide training for youth, parents, and teachers so that they will have a basic first responder skill set: know how to listen to young peoples problems, recognize signs, and act as Gatekeepers to refer troubled individuals to appropriate professional counselors or support groups. Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainings Matrix Design by: Danita LeBlanc Content contributors: Living Works Education, QPR, Yellow Ribbon Brief Description of the Program LWE ASIST provides practical skills training to prevent the immediateriskof suicide. Content: Teaches suicidefirstaid helping a person at risk to stay safe and to seek furtherhelp Participantslearn a suicide intervention model to identify at risk persons, seek a shared understanding of reasons for dying and for living, review current risk, develop a safeplan and become involved in a suicide-safer community Learning process: Adult learningprinciples Highly participatory work in workgroups Balances safety and challenge opportunities Graduated skills development by lecture, discussions, group simulations, and role-plays Living Works Education (LWE) QPR Yellow Ribbon ASIST safetalk LWE safetalk provides suicide alertness training for recognition and referral functions. Content: Fills a gap between recognition and connection to suicide intervention trained resources Stresses safety while challenging taboos Provides a framework for understanding and addressing the low recognition rate of persons withsuicidalthoughts Proposes a mnemonic (TALK) for being suicidealert Learning process: Highly structured Graduated exposure to practice actions using non-alert and alert video scenarios Respects participants while balancing support and required action steps QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer three simple steps anyone can learn to help savea lifefromsuicide. Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR are taught three steps to help prevent suicide. Content: Teaches how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis Participants learn how to question, persuade, and refer someoneto help Yellow Ribbon (YR) is a community- and education-based program used in prevention and postvention work. The Program is implementedin one of two ways: Option 1: the Complete Program including YR curricula and the Ask 4 Help! Cards Option 2: embedding the Ask 4 Help! Cards and core aspects of the Program into an existing suicide prevention initiative Trainings: Be-A-Link! Gatekeeper Training Ask 4 Help! Lifeskills for Youth Content: Teaches help-seeking behavior, how to recognize warning signs, risk/protective factors, and how to use the Ask 4 Help! Cards 3

4 Community Awareness Chippewa County 2010 Prevention Plan Recognized Gaps Uniform protocol for identifying & responding to suicide attempts & threats Resource persons with specific "best practices" suicide intervention training Region-wide awareness program provided on an on-going basis in the schools, senior centers, and other gathering places Explain warning signs of suicide Address the stigma of receiving mental health / substance abuse services Coordinated system for referral/entry seeking mental health services Coordination of care among professional providers Suicide prevention needs to expand from a human services provider-based initiative into a broad-based community priority Region-wide prevention programs Supports for families experiencing challenging issues, such as, serious mental or physical illness, substance abuse, and/or involvement in the justice system 4

5 Ego Listening: Un-grounded or Interrupting Passive Listening: Open and receptive Active Listening: Feeling or Sensing their Experience To be heard, acknowledged, and understood. To listen, acknowledge, and understand. Gatekeeper s: Contactful & use Listening Skills Identify warning signs, clarify intent, and instill hope HEARTMATH DESTRESS PROGRAM LIFT Youth Coping Skills Class No. 2 Heart Rhythms FRUSTRATION HHEART RATE Cortical Inhibition (Incoherence) HHEART RATE APPRECIATION Cortical Facilitation (Coherence) TIME (SECONDS) Institute of HeartMath 10 5

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8 Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) Workshop covers 24 core competencies Individuals at Risk: Attitudes and Approach Understanding Suicide Collecting Accurate Assessment Information Managing Care Documenting items related to suicidality Understanding Legal and Regulatory 8

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11 safetalkprogram Description SafeTALK is a half-day training program that teaches participants to recognize and engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide and to connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention. SafeTALK stresses safety while challenging taboos that inhibit open talk about suicide. The program recommends that an ASIST-trained resource or other community support resource be at all trainings. The safe of safetalk stands for suicide alertness for everyone. The TALK letters stand for the practice actions that one does to help those with thoughts of suicide: Tell, Ask, Listen, and Keep Safe. 11

12 safetalkprogram Objectives Challenge attitudes that inhibit open talk about suicide. Recognize a person who might be having thoughts of suicide. Engage them in direct and open talk about suicide. Listen to the person s feelings about suicide to show that they are taken seriously. Move quickly to connect them with someone trained in suicide intervention 12

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14 Suggested Reading 14