LA MESA HEALTH CARE LIBRARY TO HOST FREE MEETING ON SUICIDE PREVENTION TRAINING ON SEPTEMBER 26TH

East County News Service

September 13, 2018 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host “QPR: Question, Persuade and Refer, Suicide Prevention Training,” an informational program about how to offer hope and help someone in a suicide crisis, from 10 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26. The program is part of the library’s “Wellness Wednesday” series, normally held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. Advance RSVP is not necessary. Handouts will be available.

The presenter on Sept. 26 will be Stan Collins, a suicide prevention specialist and media representative with the San Diego County Suicide Prevention Council and a resource navigator with Each Mind Matters, a statewide mental health movement.

Collins estimates that he has spoken to a quarter of a million people about suicide prevention since he was a student at Poway High School in the late 1990s. He was inspired to learn more about suicide prevention by the suicide of a friend in high school. Collins spent 10 years working with the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention program both locally and nationally, giving presentations and suicide prevention training to emergency services, law enforcement and high schools. 

Collins said his training at the Herrick Library will not be about counseling or therapy but will be more like learning CPR or the Heimlich maneuver. “Pain isn’t always obvious,” said Collins. “I want to make people more comfortable with the topic of suicide by talking about it.” Collins is co-author of the Know the Signs Training Resource Guide for Suicide Prevention in Primary Care toolkit and author of the San Diego County Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training for First Responders.

Kathy Quinn, Herrick Library director, said, “Recent celebrity suicides have been in the news, but most people who consider or complete suicide are ordinary people, our family, friends, or neighbors. Topics at our presentation will include how to recognize warning signs of suicide, what questions to ask and how to get help. Join us to learn this emergency intervention and help save a life.”

The Herrick Library, which opened in 2002, is a consumer health public library specializing in health research information, accessible both on-site and via the Internet. The library is operated by the Grossmont Healthcare District, a public agency that supports health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County. For more information, phone the library at (619) 825-5010 or visit www.herricklibrary.org.