Community Roots, Wrangell’s LGBT support group, will be hosting suicide prevention training at the Stikine Middle School Commons this weekend. The training is designed by the QPR Institute, an organization dedicated to training people with practical and supportive methods of suicide prevention.
This type of training is being taught across the country, according to Community Roots member Eli Michael. He said that the training covers warning signs people should be aware of, as well as what they can do to help someone contemplating suicide. This training is important for everybody, Michael said, because it opens the door to make suicide a more acceptable topic of discussion.
“Suicide is the second or third leading cause of death in Alaska,” Michael said. “It [suicide] is one of those things that, when people hear it it’s almost taboo. You don’t really talk about it. When people hear something like that the tendency is almost to freeze. It can be really empowering for anybody to know what to do and to be able to provide help, to provide support.”
According to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, suicide rates are increasing across the country. Between 1999 and 2016, the suicide rate across the United States has risen by 30%. In 2016, Alaska had the second highest rate of suicide in the country. In 2017, there were 197 suicides in Alaska. The Alaska native community has been especially hard-hit by suicide attempts, as well. Michael added that members of the LGBT community were several times more likely to attempt suicide than straight people.
“Pretty much every single community has been touched,” Michael said.
There will be two different training sessions, he said. The first will be held on Friday, March 1. This session is being made available to students at Wrangell High School to attend after class. The second training session will be held on Saturday, March 2. This session is open to all members of the public, and is also completely free. It will begin at 1 p.m., and is being lead by Jay Greene and Tracy Wiese of Anchorage. Michael said that the training will last about an hour and a half, and suggested that people bring a notebook and some pens.
“I’ve had multiple friends, over the years, say they were suicidal, and I just remember my mind going blank,” Michael said “Like, I don’t even know the first thing to do. Who do I call? What do I do? Is this going to be on me? To be able to have access to free training can really just ease some of those anxieties.”
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