LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Every 11 minutes, somebody takes their own life. According to the Kentucky Department of Education, suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth and young adults in the Commonwealth.
Dr. Sarah Geegan, assistant professor of integrated strategic communications at the University of Kentucky, is passionate about a training tool provided by UK HealthCare to help people learn about suicide prevention.
“I saw a lot of mental health suffering, especially during COVID, among loved ones, students, family across Kentucky,” Geegan said. “There’s hope. We can change those numbers. We can change those statistics. Because of course, those numbers aren’t just numbers. Those are people. Those are families that are impacted.”
It’s called QPR training, which stands for Question, Persuade, Refer. The training teaches people to look for signs of mental health struggle.
“It provides information on warning signs,” Geegan explained. “It teaches you warning signs to look out for if somebody is struggling. It gives you a toolkit to sort of understand how you might start a conversation that might seem really uncomfortable or daunting, but that is really important if somebody is struggling with their mental health.”
Dr. Geegan compared it to another medical training people might recognize: CPR.
“Most people are familiar with the concept of CPR,” said Geegan. “You see somebody in physical pain, and you want to have the tools to be able to intervene and save their life. QPR is the exact same premise. It is all about, you notice somebody in some sort of pain. It’s not physical, but it’s mental, and you have the tools to intervene.”
“I think we as Kentuckians, when we see our neighbors hurting, or in need of help, we generally step up and help them. This is just another way to prepare ourselves to do that.”
Sophomore UK student C.C. Rhien was trained in QPR in high school, and she’s seen firsthand how the method truly saves lives by creating conversations.
“A lot of what QPR emphasizes is that we start with a question,” Rhien said. “We ask, ‘are you thinking about hurting yourself? Are you thinking about taking your own life?’ Then, you have an open situation. You’ve created an open conversation without judgement where you’re more likely to hear honesty from people.”
The QPR training takes less than an hour, and the hope is that all Kentuckians will take time to learn the method. UK HealthCare is supporting the mission by providing the training for free through their website.
“I’ve seen QPR be extremely effective when just one person knows it and they’re talking to someone that’s struggling,” said Rhien, “but it’s most effective when we create a safety net of people that know the training together.”
You can find out more about the QPR training, as well as additional resources to help people dealing with mental health struggles by visiting ukhealthcare.com/qpr.
