Smithton workshop offers training in suicide prevention skills

A workshop to train people how to intervene to prevent suicides is planned for Aug. 8-9 in Smithton.

Living Works, an organization with a base in Fayetteville, N.C., describes its Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training workshop as “suicide first aid.” It teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and to work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety.

Suicides in the United States increased from 10.9 per 100,000 people in 2005 to 14 per 100,000 people in 2017, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The rate in Pennsylvania was 15 per 100,000 people, with 2,030 deaths in 2017, the latest year figures are available.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in Pennsylvania.

The Smithton workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days at the Smithton Fire Department social hall on Center Street. It is limited to 24 people. Registration closes July 12. The $80 registration fee includes workshop materials, refreshments and lunch on both days.

The LivingWorks-trained facilitators scheduled to conduct the workshop are: Robert Prah, an Army veteran and Army Reserve captain; Keith Medley, a clinical and mental health counselor and retired Navy chief petty officer; Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton and Kim Burditt, officials with Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

For more information or to register, contact Prah at prah@calu.edu.

Participants must attend all eight hours on both days in order to receive a completion certificate, said Prah, director of the Office of Military & Veterans Affairs at California University of Pennsylvania. Continuing education credits are available.

For more information on the workshop, visit https://www.livingworks.net/programs/asist/. For more information on Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and its services, visit https://www.taps.org/