No one can stop a suicide because it is inevitable, and confronting a suicidal person with concern will only make that person angry and increase the risk of action.
These are myths identified by Question, Persuade, Refer gatekeeper training, an evidence-based suicide prevention program.
Seeking to equip participants with tools to recognize and assist students in crisis, MSU’s Department of Health Promotion and Wellness provided 46 Mississippi State faculty, staff and police officers, with QPR training in sessions held Tuesday and in September in the Longest Student Health Center.
Though suicide impacts the lives of people across the U.S., college students bear a unique risk.
Adults 18 to 24 are less likely to seek help for mental health issues than any other adult age group, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Moreover, a recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report estimates 1 in 13 college students age 18 to 22 make a suicide plan.
And more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined, according to QPR.
Kim Kavalsky, DHPW mental health outreach coordinator, co-led the sessions and said QPR training empowers participants to identify students at risk and intervene to potentially save their lives.
“I think it’s important to talk about a subject that’s seen a lot of taboo and stigma associated with it,” Kavalsky said. “To me, in order to change things, we’ve got to discuss it. We’ve got to look at this and realize it’s affecting so many people. Many of us have been impacted, and we can’t just sit by and let it continue.”
She said five MSU students have killed themselves since 2011, and suicidal ideation is even more prevalent on campus.
“I’ve found that a lot of student have those thoughts,” she said. “It’s not an usual thing.”
During the session, participants first received a contextual overview of suicide trends, including what demographics are most risk for suicide attempt and success, how suicide relates to mental health issues and how common it is to be a loss survivor.
Participants learned to identify verbal, behavioral, situational clues characteristic of suicidal crisis, before then learning how to apply QPR’s titular steps: asking if the person is suicidal, persuading them to accept help and referring them to support services.
Kavalsky said QPR training extends beyond the two sessions provided to MSU professionals. The Department of Health Promotion and Wellness partners with the Department of Housing and Residence Life every July to provide training to all MSU resident directs and advisers, Kavalsky said. She said though training sessions are on campus, QPR transcends MSU because suicide impacts lives beyond all boundaries.
“Of course, we’re focused a lot on students, but like we say in the training, anyone –whether it’s a family member, a friend or a colleague that you see struggling — can use the same training,” Kavalsky said.
More information about QPR is available at qinstitute.com.
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