By CSC COLLEGE RELATIONS
CHADRON – September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and CSC Health Services is providing Question Persuade Refer (QPR) certification training for employees, as well as a speaker, Rhianna Brand, on Sept. 19, in Lakota and Ponderosa Rooms at noon.
QPR is designed to help individuals notice suicide warning signs and learn how to offer support to a person who may be struggling. QPR training focuses on three steps to help prevent suicide. First, recognize the warning signs of suicide. Second, know how to offer hope, and third, know how to get help and save a life. No RSVP is necessary.
Faculty Certification
Alternative time in Burkhiser Room 201:
Sept. 12 from 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Staff Certification
Three alternative times in the Student Center’s Bordeaux Room:
Sept. 13 from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Sept. 14 from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Sept. 15 from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Brand’s speech is co-sponsored by Panhandle Public Health District. Follow-up discussions about student resources will follow the speech and counselors will be on-site to assist any attendees triggered by the content.
Brand, of Casper, Wyoming, was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age and physical and mental abuse as she grew older.
A suicide survivor, Brand speaks about how others did not know she was struggling with a mental health crisis because she was cheerful and had a good academic history. She is also a loss survivor, losing her uncle and multiple friends to suicide.
She is an appointed member of the Wyoming Behavioral Health Advisory Council and a QPR Master Trainer.
Her message will cover forming genuine human connections and performing safety checks as well as sharing her experiences with alcohol, substance abuse, and working through them.
