Today, September 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day. 

From 2007 to 2018, Ohio saw a 64.4% increase in the suicide rate of youth between the ages of 10 and 24. Many of us have known or been impacted by losing someone to a suicide death and want to do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening in the future. Suicide is preventable, but how can we help?

Stigma, myths, and lack of understanding make talking about mental health or approaching someone in a crisis seem scary and you do not need to be a doctor or work in the behavioral health field to make a difference in someone’s life when they are struggling. In fact, mental health and suicide prevention education is available to anyone in the community, regardless of their professional background.

One educational opportunity that is available is QPR Gatekeeper training.

QPR stands for:

• Question
• Persuade
• Refer

These are the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. The mission of QPR is to reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical, and proven suicide prevention training. Much like CPR, QPR is an emergency response to someone experiencing a crisis and can save a life.

We sat down with Unity Smith (pictured), community health program coordinator at Dayton Children’s, to hear about her experience with taking the QPR course.

Why did you decide to take the QPR gatekeeper training?

I decided to take the QPR gatekeeper training because I wanted to learn more about how I could help prevent suicides.

What was the training like? Was it what you expected or different?

The training was very interactive which is something that I didn’t expect. We were able to go through various scenarios and discuss the best route to deal with each situation.

What was the most valuable thing you learned during the training?

The most valuable thing that I learned during the training is that it is ok to ask someone directly if they’re thinking about suicide. I think that a lot of people, myself included, have thought that you shouldn’t ask someone this question. It may uncomfortable, but it could help start a valuable discussion and save a life.

Who would you recommended take the training and why?

I would recommend that everyone take QPR gatekeeper training because you never know when you’ll need it.

how to take the QPR gatekeeper course:

After taking this 60-minute QPR Gatekeeper course participants should be able to:

• Question, Persuade and Refer someone who may be suicidal
• Get help for yourself or learn more about preventing suicide
• Recognize the common causes of suicidal behavior
• Recognize the warning signs of suicide
• Get help for someone in crisis

The more educated we become, the more empathetic and understanding we can be and thanks to the generous donation by the Connor Group Kids & Community Foundation, Dayton Children’s Hospital is able to offer this training at no cost to the participant.

Where would you go to access this training?

This self-paced training will be available online for anyone who wishes to enroll and can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by following these instructions.  

1. Navigate to: qprtraining.com/setup
2. Enter the organization code: DCH
3. Select Create Account
4. Complete and submit student registration form
5. QPR will display and email the newly created Username and Password.
6. Student can log in to begin training at qprtraining.com