The Lincoln County Health Promotion wants to make sure that help is available to everyone. Lincoln County Health Promotion’s Mental Health Promotion Coordinator, Sara Herd, is offering free, web-based online Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training. In November, Sara Herd is partnering with Bethany Grace Howe with the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Lane County to provide QPR in Lincoln City. With one-hour QPR training, anyone can learn how recognize and help someone who is considering suicide using the evidence-based Question, Persuade, and Refer method.
The QPR Institute says “It is easy to learn and easy to remember, and that any positive action can help save a life.” Participants will learn suicide warning signs, how to ask if someone is contemplating suicide, persuade them to get help, and how to refer them to help. Participants will also receive a QPR booklet, a local resource list, and a certificate for completing the training. Offered online Monday, November 9, at 2 p.m., Tuesday, November 10, at 6 p.m., and Thursday, November 12, 10 a.m., the one-hour class is meant for everyone who wants to be able to recognize those people in their lives who might be in danger of dying by suicide.
Bethany Grace Howe, the Wildfire Resource Navigator for the Olalla Clinic, is experiencing it first hand as she works with Echo Mountain Fire survivors. “I have men who start to cry right front of me and all they can do is apologize,” she said. “I’m hearing similar stories from people at the Salmon River Grange, the Echo Mountain Distribution Center, and anywhere else that people are trying to help their neighbors. By what some might only call a miracle, we didn’t lose any lives in the Echo Mountain Fire,” Howe said. “We want to make sure it stays that way.”
Separate from the web-based online training, Herd and Howe will be teaching in-person classes for those people who are most likely to come in regular contact with people who may be in trouble. Under the banner of “Bartenders, Barbers and Baristas,” Herd and Howe will be offering QPR trainings targeted to people who often find themselves listening for a living.
Leslie Portune, owner of the Snug Harbor in Lincoln City, is thrilled her bar and grill will be the first host of one of the occupationally-targeted events. “I think it’s important, because in these difficult times people have issues they have a hard time talking about. But they always know they can talk about it with us,” she said. “This is a way to make sure we know how to help them.”
Along with the bartender-focused event at Snug Harbor, The Black Squid Beer House will be hosting an event for baristas, Marci’s Bar and Bistro for hairdressers and barbers, and Chinook Winds Casino Resort for a cross-section of their employees. Locations and times have been selected to allow people to participate outside of the hours they would normally be working. Managers or employees from the identified occupations are invited to contact Herd or Howe.
With the Lincoln City events, however, QPR trainers Herd and Howe are planning to sign up groups of people from specific businesses. At each well-spaced table, there will only be employees from one business. That way, up to two-dozen people can be QPR trained while still observing safety procedures to reduce risk of spreading COVID-19, including wearing appropriate face coverings. “It was Leslie at the Snug, actually, who gave me the idea to do it by business,” Howe said. “Leave it to a long-time local to figure out how to help their neighbors in need in the middle of two massive crises.”
Online QPR - “Question, Persuade, Refer” - classes:
Monday, November 9, at 2 p.m.: Click here
Tuesday, November 10, at 6 p.m. Click here
Thursday, November 12, 10 a.m. Click here
To enroll by phone or inquire about future classes, please contact Sara Herd at 541-265-0595 or sherd@co.lincoln.or.us
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