The Ohio County Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Committee is hosting a QPR training class to help educate bystanders on emergency intervention.

QPR training, according to committee member and mental health professional Ashley Davis, stands for “Question, Persuade and Refer.” It is all about learning the right questions to ask someone exhibiting suicidal behaviors and how to speak with them in a comforting manner before referring them to a professional to seek further help, if that’s necessary.

“You learn skills to deal with an emergency intervention when someone’s in a life-threatening situation or even if they’re just extremely stressed,” she said. “It’s really just about making someone comfortable because we have this stigma with mental health, so just being able to make that a conversation where they know they’re not being judged.”

She said QPR training is a good skill for anyone working in the community or around other people.

“There are all these warning signs around us everywhere, so it’s not just for any certain group,” she said.

Davis said there is evidence showing that the training is successful in helping decrease incidents of suicide.

“The whole mission and goal for our group is to destigmatize mental health issues and try to help reduce incidents where people do complete suicide,” she said. “The research with this training shows a decrease in suicides in areas where people are trained.”

The QPR training will be hosted by the committee in the cafeteria of Ohio County High School at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Brentwood Springs, a mental health facility out of Evansville, will facilitate the training.

Davis said the training is free and open to anyone.

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Originally Appeared Here