PROSPER Together, an organization that works to prevent suicide on a global scale, is offering a faith-based suicide reduction training on Thursday, September 11 from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Afton Civic Center at 150 South Washington Street. PROSPER Chaplain Matt Ferguson will offer instruction in reaching out with love and skill to individuals who need support and intervention.
Ferguson is a PROSPER Chaplain with 18 years of experience in law enforcement chaplaincy, decades of crisis response experience and former Chief of Chaplains for the U.S. Border Patrol. He travels throughout the region offering faith-based suicide prevention training to communities and organizations.
An “evidence-based suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention program and method,” PROSPER “connects diverse professionals, including healthcare providers, educators, first responders, faith leaders, and community members, in a collective effort to inspire hope, foster resilience, and transform suicide prevention globally,” states PROSPERTogether.net.
While all are welcome to this training, PROSPER acknowledges that leaders, family and friends often recognize pain in people before others do, and most who die by suicide haven’t been diagnosed with mental illness. “Regardless of profession, we are all members of a community,” says Ferguson. “We all have family members and friends from church, school or sports. We all know people who are suffering. We can all be trained to help those in need.”
Suicide ideation is a spiritual and social crisis as well as a mental health illness. This training is offered openly to parents, educators, faith leaders and coaches who hope to skillfully bring people that they see in crisis through their crisis and into a spiritual and social place of increased safety.
PROSPER Founder, Dr. Kent Corso, who has studied the spiritual and social aspects of suicide, is passionate about reaching people through faith-based methods. “Faith is such an important part of life and can be extremely helpful in times of crisis. We are grateful to have the faith community welcome us in to fortify their community.”
Guests at the training can expect to learn simple, evidence-based steps to help folks in crisis. Typically, friends and family members see the warning signs of suicide ideation first. With Wyoming’s suicide rate being nearly double the national average, this training can teach guests to respond with care, reducing risk by up to 76%.
“I spend a lot of time talking about suicide in Wyoming communities, and what I see is that people genuinely want to help but often worry they might say or do the wrong thing,” says William Miller, who serves as Prosper’s Director of Curriculum and Design. “Suicide is a social issue that affects every community, and many turn to their faith community for strength and support. It is encouraging to see the faith community leading the way by providing the tools people need, giving them the confidence to help those who are struggling. In doing so, they remind us of our shared responsibility to carry one another’s burdens. I’m grateful for the opportunity to highlight the role of the faith community in this work.”
An additional training is available to first responders today at the Afton office of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. “I think it is important that, as we remember the events of 9/11, we recognize that all trauma can lead to an increased risk of suicide,” says Ferguson. “The more exposure to traumatic events, the higher the risk, and it is important that our first responders are cared for.”
“We owe so much to our first responders,” says Corso. “Supporting them with practical skills for self-help, and helping each other, is the least we can do to repay them.”
“At PROSPER, we believe in a future where every individual has the strength, support and resources to overcome life’s darkest moments,” says the PROSPER website. “The PROSPER model Proactive Reduction Of
