Suicide Prevention in Rockford, Illinois

Working with the State of Illinois Coalition on Suicide Prevention, Our local group called "Rockford Preventing Suicide" has been holding training sessions in the past year with Church people, nursing home employees and with NIAAA staff who work with senior citizens.

We use a slide program that demonstrates suicide data, suicide stories and Depression patterns. Once we do that introduction to the issue of suicide, we enter a personal discussion of how Depression creates suicide thoughts and how those thoughts feel and the painful nature of it. Part of that is the nature of feeling judged and how that triggers those painful feelings.

As we move through these ideas, we suggest that everyone can learn how to come alongside persons who are or may be suffering Depression. That is the reason for people to attend our training. As the State program states, the first goal is to teach people to "ask" about the painful feelings of suicide and death.

Each attendee gets to ask us questions about all of this. We realize some may be quite uncomfortable as soon as they think they might actually ask the question. We spend time assuring attendees of the validating value of asking, but asking in a knowing and skillful manner. Our confidence about all of this is borne of the U.S. Air force successful program for suicide prevention developed in 1992. The CPR program is another experience that informs us of how to learn to "ask."

After we lead the training group through the preparations of ideas, then we role play back and forth so that each person gets to play the depressed, suicidal person as well as the helper. We intend to convey that careful "asking" is conferring HOPE and that is a loving thing to do.

We hope to persistently promote the concept that all us can be helpful this way if we learn and intend to help. It is the idea that Suicide prevention is a community activity.