Brittany Ritter with the Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, October 28 to discuss PROSPER training that is being used in both Lincoln County school districts and is also available to community members, businesses and other organizations.

(0:00) And joining me live over the phone is Brittany Ritter with the Lincoln County Preventing ATODS (0:05) Abuse Coalition. Brittany, good morning. How are you doing today? Good morning, Duke.

I’m doing (0:09) great. Appreciate your time as always. Doing fantastic.

I like to have Brittany on the air (0:16) about once every quarter or so to give us an update on what’s happening with the Lincoln (0:20) County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition. And Brittany, I understand that there’s a program (0:25) that’s being used right now in the schools in Cokeville and Star Valley and District 2, (0:30) kind of starting to be rolled out and beginning to be used in District 1 in southern Lincoln (0:34) County. That’s the PROSPER program.

So let’s start at the very beginning and just tell us (0:38) what is PROSPER and what does it actually do? Right. So PROSPER is a suicide gatekeeper training (0:47) that we offer in Lincoln County. It stands for proactive reduction of suicide in populations (0:55) via evidence-based research.

And you are correct. We have implemented this in both (1:02) school district number one and two, teaching this gatekeeper training to our staff members. (1:11) And so walk us through kind of what that training looks like and what the staff of (1:16) two school districts in the county are learning from this program.

Right. So as a requirement of (1:24) the Wyoming Department of Education, all of our school staff are required to complete a specific (1:31) number of hours every year in suicide gatekeeper training. We offer two hours for our staff (1:41) members right now going over concepts that deal with suicide risk behaviors and how to intervene.

(1:52) PROSPER has been super effective in reducing the number of suicide attempts and completions (1:59) among our Lincoln County residents. And one thing that I would like to collaborate on (2:05) or express my admiration for is not only have we had our school districts (2:14) participate in this PROSPER training, but we’ve also had lots of community members and agencies (2:21) attend a PROSPER training. We have trained numerous first responders, healthcare providers, (2:28) law enforcement, and just citizens in Lincoln County.

And because of that, we have seen a (2:35) reduction in our suicide rates and even our number of hospitalizations and emergency holds with (2:42) suicidal ideation people. So it’s certainly being effective. And that was going to be one of my (2:47) questions outside the school.

Is it available to the community? Sounds like it absolutely is. (2:52) So if someone wants to learn more about this, maybe get some training on their own, (2:56) is this something that happens on a regular basis or how does that work? (3:01) So we don’t typically schedule on a regular basis. It’s more on an as need and with people (3:07) who are interested in completing.

We can offer this to anybody in Lincoln County. Maybe it’s (3:15) a civic group. Maybe it’s an industrial safety meeting for a company that employs lots of people (3:23) or maybe five to 10 people.

It doesn’t matter. This training is applicable for (3:28) anybody who is interested in preventing suicide completion. Another great thing about PROSPER (3:35) is it’s free and we have everything from a 90 minute training to up to two full days.

(3:42) We can offer CEUs or post credits for people that might need that type of accreditation (3:49) or continuing education. It’s not something that you have to be a licensed therapist to go through (3:58) and feel like once I go through this training, I’m going to have to go out there and follow (4:03) all of these specific steps and feel like a professional counselor. That is not at all (4:08) what PROSPER is.

Although we can create a more in tune, successful training for those that (4:19) need something like that, but really it just gives any person the tools to help save a life (4:26) and really increase people that might be struggling with that ambivalence and putting (4:33) a plan in place, a crisis response plan, so that they have the tools to help keep them (4:41) free or clear of trying to complete suicide whenever they get in those crisis situations. (4:49) Brittany Ritter with us this morning, Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition. Brittany, (4:53) so as far as this training goes in the schools across the county, is this training something (4:57) that continues to happen moving forward? Was it just a one-time thing or does it happen every (5:02) year? How does that work? Yeah, it’s an every year training and the great thing with PROSPER (5:09) is because we know evidence changes and strategies changes, we adapt as the times change.

(5:21) So maybe there’s new research out about a certain strategy or maybe there’s a new research out about (5:27) a specific population. We adapt to the research so that our program is as effective as it can be (5:37) on a year-to-year basis. Brittany, if someone is interested in learning more, maybe getting (5:42) the training for themselves or a group or organization like you mentioned, what’s the (5:46) best way to get started? Yeah, I would love for them to reach out to me.

They can either call, (5:53) text, or shoot me an email. My number is 307-390-8442 or they can shoot me an email at (6:01) Brittany.Ritter at LincolnCountyWY.gov. Perfect, that’s Brittany Ritter with the (6:08) Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition and that PROSPER program being rolled out across (6:13) the county and the schools and in the community. Brittany, anything we missed that you’d like to (6:17) mention today? One thing that I think is important for people in Lincoln County and Wyoming to know (6:24) is suicide is devastating.

About 50,000 people die every year in the U.S., making it one of the top (6:35) 10 causes of death for our adults and it’s the number two cause of death for our youth population (6:42) ages 10 to 18. Unfortunately, Wyoming has always ranked either number one, two, or three for the (6:51) highest number of completions per capita and we love all things Wyoming and we’re proud of a lot (6:57) of things in Wyoming, but that’s not something that we’re so proud of. So, we want to rally our troops, (7:06) provide as much training as we can to the people in Lincoln County and just help keep our (7:11) community safe and do what we can to prevent any crisis or suicide completions.

Absolutely. Again, (7:19) thanks for your time. Brittany Ritter with the Lincoln County Preventing ATOTS Abuse Coalition.

(7:23) Thanks, Brittany. We’ll talk again in a couple months. Appreciate it.

(7:26) Sounds great. Thanks, Duke. (7:27) It’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning on the SVI Radio Network.