Alta hosts suicide prevention roundtable

Alta Behavioral Healthcare to host community roundtable discussion on suicide prevention and training

(Youngstown, Ohio) August 1, 2019— Alta Behavioral Healthcare is teaming up with the Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success North East Region to host a roundtable discussion on Wednesday, August 7 at 3 p.m. on suicide prevention for the community at Alta’s offices at 711 Belmont Avenue in Youngstown.

As the second leading cause of deaths in youths and young adults, suicide prevention and training are important not only for mental health professionals, but for the gatekeepers in many youth and young adults’ lives. Gatekeepers include parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, nurses, office supervisors, squad leaders, foremen, police officers, caseworkers, firefighters and many others.

The roundtable will feature QPR training, which stands for Question, Persuade and Refer, three simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. In addition to saving lives, the mission of QPR is to reduce suicidal behaviors by providing this innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training.

“Just as people are trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver to help save thousands of lives each year, we want to educate the gatekeepers in our community on how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade and refer someone to help,” Angela Kearns MSW, Mental Health Liaison at Alta Behavioral Health, said.

QPR-trained gatekeepers will learn to recognize the warning signs, know how to offer hope and know how to get help and save a life.

Members of the community and the media are encouraged to attend this free event. Those attending can RSVP by calling 330-793-2487 or emailing Bethany Koenig at [email protected].