• Two, one-day training courses are available April 22 and 23.
The Lincoln County Prevention Coalition, which works to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse as well as suicide, is offering two, one-day training courses on suicide prevention and intervention on April 22 and 23. Registrants must attend the entire training. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
The training on April 22 specifically addresses suicide prevention from an educator’s perspective. Lincoln County School District No. 2 faculty and staff members are invited to attend from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the LCSD No. 2 Conference Room at the district office building.
The training on April 23 is specifically prepared for health professionals and first responders. This course is offered at the Afton Civic Center with eight hours of CME and CEU for health care professionals.
Barb Merritt, who is a mental health counselor at Lincoln County School District No. 2, worked in collaboration with Brittany Ritter of the Lincoln County Prevention Coalition to bring these training courses to Afton.
“I have been working with Brittany Ritter with Lincoln County Prevention Coalition,” Merritt shared in an interview on the SVI Radio Network. “She and I both had attended a PROSPER training with Teton County and went twice in the last year. I thought that it was beneficial and that it could be brought to our community. Suicide is a hot topic. The reason that it’s a hot
topic in Wyoming is because we are rated number one as far as suicide mortality rate. We are followed by Alaska, Montana, and New Mexico. So,it’s a really big topic in Wyoming.”
Professionals with Star Valley Health, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, Afton Police Department and local EMTs have responded positively to the training offering. Individual members of the public are also invited to attend, but seating is limited, so interested individuals will want to register very soon.
In reference to faculty and staff at LCSD No. 2, Merritt shared her enthusiasm about offering this training to the district personnel. “We are excited to train our staff so that we, as a staff, are prepared to help our students in need.”
Merritt explained that information being offered at the training events is called PROSPER, which stands for Proactive Reduction of Suicide in Populations via Evidence Based Research. The training is designed to help those who attend to understand suicide so that they can recognize the warning signs and work to prevent tragedies earlier.
“What I did love about it is that it’s a gatekeeper program,” said Merritt. “Statistics have shown that we don’t do a very good job in suppressing suicide rates over time. No matter what we’ve offered, it just hasn’t done a great job, so gatekeeper programs elicit help from the community and those who are working with people every day to be able to not be so afraid to get engaged and to have the tools to know how to do so.”
The program will teach trainees how to recognize the warning signs of suicide and then “helps them adopt a language that is respectful and non-judgmental so suicidal kids and patients will engage more. Even our coaches can use it to assess suicide risk in 10 to 15 minutes.”
According to Merritt, the program has shown to potentially reduce the number of suicide attempts in a community by up to 76 percent. “It’s very effective.” I’m excited to put this out,” Merritt concluded. “For those who do sign up who are professionals, it will be seven credits, so just making a clarification. It’s a one-day training. We are offering it on two separate days so you can
sign up for either April 22 or April 23.”
To register for the training, visit https://lincolncountyprevention.com/prosper/
