Commentary: Pleased to offer QPR Gatekeeper training, an important tool for suicide prevention

Hello,

I am Jennifer Wiederhold and I am an emergency room nurse.

I have lived in Lincoln nearly all my life and am pleased to be able to offer training sessions for suicide prevention in my hometown and neighboring areas.

I have been a QPR Certified Gatekeeper Instructor for over three years, but with full time work, family and grad school I have had a difficult time promoting the program. So when Lewis and Clark Public Health and the County Suicide Prevention Coalition offered to help me with the logistics in exchange for teaching QPR (Question - Persuade - Refer.) classes, I was excited to jump on board with them.

Montana has the highest rate of suicide in the nation with 29.8 per 100,000 people, according to Karl Rosston, Montana State Suicide Prevention Coordinator. While there are a lot of factors that contribute to why the rate of suicide is so high in Montana, we must do what we can to prevent it whenever possible.

QPR Gatekeeper training is a basic program that anyone can use to prevent suicide. According to the QPR Institute, a gatekeeper is someone in a position to recognize a crisis, and the warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide. Gatekeepers can be anyone, but include parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, nurses, office supervisors, squad leaders, foremen, police officers, advisors, caseworkers, firefighters, and many others who are strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide. QPR Gatekeeper training teaches us that we all have the power to offer hope and assistance to someone who may be in crisis. QPR helps to reduce the barriers of stigma and opens conversation potential regarding suicide and helps Gatekeepers realize when they may need more help.

Many people are hesitant to discuss suicide, and one of the biggest myths around is that talking about it will "put the idea into someone's head". This is completely false; there is zero research to support it and I hope to help reduce this barrier by giving people the tools they need to be confident in offering help to those in crisis; and also to give them hope for themselves if needed.

I am happy to offer as many training sessions needed so that we can reach as many people as possible with my partners from Lewis and Clark Public Health and the Lewis and Clark Suicide Prevention Coalition.

If anyone is unable to attend the first training at the Lincoln branch of the library on Oct 18th, we will be happy to hold other sessions.

Please feel free to contact County Suicide Prevention Coordinator Jess Hegstrom or myself to schedule trainings, no matter how small by emailing [email protected], calling 406-457-8970 or by visiting lcsuicideprevention.org.