Question, Persuade, Refer – Save a life

Aug. 21, 2023

How many of you have ever talked openly about a mental health struggle or experience with suicide?

Image
Suicide prevention awareness month text and suicide awareness prevention ribbon sign and hands that delivers love to a sad hand on dark purple background

Have you ever stood around a workplace water cooler, the grill at a get-together with friends, or sat around the dinner table with your family and talked openly about a physical injury sustained over the weekend or “back when I was a kid”? It could have been a skinned knee while racing your bike or a strained back moving furniture. Maybe you even embellished a little to bring in a larger crowd. 

How many of you have ever talked openly about a mental health struggle or experience with suicide? 

We commonly openly discuss the physical aches and pains we feel with our co-workers, family, or friends. But when it comes to mental health, those conversations do not happen nearly as often and are often much less open. 

The World Health Organization defines health as physical, mental, and social well-being.1 To get closer to a state of complete well-being, we need to start focusing on all aspects of our health with the same respect and openness as we do to the physical and social. Mental health is health.

Change the Conversation

Suicide is a serious public health concern. Every year, more than 700,000 people globally die by suicide.2  But there is hope. Suicide can be one of the most preventable causes of death if timely action is taken through empathy, listening, and being trained in evidence-based programs. Just by taking time to read this article, you are part of the overwhelming majority of US adults who believe that suicide can be preventable and that you would take action to help someone thinking about suicide.3  

Many people are waiting at that dinner table, grill, or water cooler wanting to talk. The good news? These conversations with co-workers, family, or friends are straightforward ways to act; you can make a difference if you take steps to help those reaching out. These steps can include taking suicide prevention training, learning more about the signs and symptoms of suicide, or even just asking those you converse with how they are doing and really listening.

Become a Gatekeeper

In partnership with Campus Health Services, Life & Work Connections facilitates Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainings for University of Arizona faculty and staff throughout the year, digitally and in person. Arizona employees can participate in sessions open to anyone or set up training sessions for their groups. By participating in one of these pieces of training, you can become a QPR gatekeeper. 

So, what is a QPR gatekeeper? Gatekeepers can be anyone but include advisors, caregivers, friends, parents, friends, teachers, and many others who are strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide.4

What you’ll learn

Preventing suicide involves all of us; anyone can help prevent a life lost to suicide. During a 90–120-minute QPR training, you will develop life-saving skills and learn more about:

  • Suicide statistics
  • Myths and facts about suicide
  • Signs and symptoms of suicide
  • How to offer hope
  • How to get someone help and save a life

The knowledge and skills you learn through training apply to whatever role you find yourself in throughout the day--whether that is a concerned co-worker, friend, parent, or whatever hat you wear that day. You can be instrumental in helping someone get the help they need just by taking that next step. 

Take the next step: Become a QPR Gatekeeper

The QPR Institute states, “People trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. Each year thousands of Americans, like you, are saying "Yes" to saving the life of a friend, colleague, sibling, or neighbor.” 5

Join the almost 200 employee gatekeepers this year alone by becoming one yourself, whether in a standalone scheduled training or by setting up one for your department.

Additional resources

It is important to remember that even with taking steps to have the conversation and become a QPR gatekeeper, you are not alone in this process. Many resources are available for you to lean on the experts to help you learn more about suicide prevention and provide the help needed for those reaching out. Hope and healing are possible.

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

  • “The 988 Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the United States. We're committed to improving crisis services and advancing suicide prevention by empowering individuals, advancing professional best practices, and building awareness.”6

Arizona Warm Lines

  • “What Is a Warmline (or Warm Line)? A Warmline is an alternative to a crisis line that is run by “peers,” generally those who have had their own experiences of trauma that they are willing to speak of and acknowledge. Most warm line operators have been through challenges themselves and are there primarily to listen. A warm line aims to reduce hospitalization and forced treatment, being a cost-effective and non-intrusive, voluntary intervention.”7

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  • “Established in 1987, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education, and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death.”8