ABOUT HOPE;

On 7/29/15 my family's lives changed forever. We lost our precious Olivia. Being a survivor of suicide has made me realize the traumatic events that come from depression and other mental health diagnoses. 

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Suicide does not discriminate. It robs families and friends of their loved ones and forever changes lives. 

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I am currently a school counselor and have seen first hand at how devastating it is when I call families into my office to tell them their child is suicidal. Not only adults suffer in silence about their thoughts of suicide, but children do as well. I have reached many families and thankfully intervened before losing a student to suicide.

 

As a school counselor, I should have seen the warning signs when it came to our Olivia, right? I mean after all, I am trained in suicide prevention.

 

I was not trained in QPR, however. QPR-Question, Persuade, Refer, is a suicide prevention institute based in Washington State that educates people around the world on how to go about asking if someone is suicidal and how to best handle the situation if they are.

 

If I was trained in QPR before the last day I saw Olivia after we took this picture, I would have been prepared to go up to her, have that hard conversation and ask if she wanted to end her life. If I did, I know I would have felt less guilty after I found out we lost her. I also wonder till this day on if I had known QPR and used the steps, would she still be here. But unfortunately, I cannot go back in time and change my education, let alone try and help her, and because of this, I do not want another person to have to go through what my family went through on the day we lost her forever.

 

So many people you know suffer in silence as they put on a smile everyday at work and you would never know. Even right now as you read this, someone you know may be contemplating ending their life,  but with training in QPR, your workforce will be able to better notice when someone in their lives is struggling and feel prepared to help them. This will ultimately build a safe culture and climate for your work place and help your employees not suffer in silence anymore if they are suicidal/struggling with depression etc. Like with my family, no company should have to suffer through the loss of a colleague to suicide and that is why I want to help you and your workforce develop a culture of mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

 

Please refer to the resource tab for an article on how QPR can prevent suicides.