Grant Integrated offers suicide prevention training

MOSES LAKE — Grant Integrated Services is offering a free training to help people respond to those in emotional distress and need.

The QPR Gatekeeper Training is open to anyone who is interested and will be held on Wednesday, July 11, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Grant Integrated Services offices, 840 E. Plum St. in Moses Lake.

According to Courtney Armstrong, the community relations manager for Grant Integrated, QPR stands for “Question, Persuade, Refer” and gives people the tools to engage and help those in need.

“These are tools to help people become more aware,” Armstrong said. “The training is open to anyone and everyone with the tools to feel more comfortable working in different situations.”

According to the QPR Institute, which created the training regimen, the goal is to create gatekeepers who can “recognize a crisis and the warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide.”

Comparing QPR to CPR — an emergency intervention intended to keep someone alive until professional help can arrive — the institute says the goal is to provide a basic intervention that will help recognize the warning signs of suicide, ask questions that can lead to a conversation that can persuade someone to seek help or refer them to help.

“The sooner warning signs are detected and help sought, the better the outcome of a suicidal crisis will be,” the institute says on its web site.

While this is the first time Grant Integrated has offered the QPR to the general public, the county has previously offered training like this to law enforcement and teachers. And Grant Integrated is willing to train anyone who is interested.

“Whenever the need arises, a church group or a work group wants this, we can set up something special,” Armstrong said.

Space is limited for the June 11 training, however, with Armstrong saying there is only space for 20 people to receive the training at a time.

For more information on the QPR Gatekeeper Training, call or email Bernadette Crawford at 509-765-9239 x5321 or bfcrawford@grantcountywa.gov.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.