Thanks to a partnership with the West End Health Foundation, Copper Shores’ Outreach and Education department will be offering an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) Tuesday and Wednesday. The training will take place at the Great Lakes Recovery Center in Negaunee, Michigan. The workshop will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. 

Attendees will learn crucial skills that can help prevent suicide, as well as how to intervene and keep someone safe from suicide. Both trained professionals and members of the public are welcome to sign up. No prior training or experience is required. ASIST allows participants to offer guidance and suicide first-aid to a person with thoughts of suicide. This can be tailored to meet individual safety needs. ASIST also helps with identifying the main elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions needed to implement it. 

ASIST has been taught for over 40 years and is constantly being updated to remain accurate. Taught by LivingWorks, the training will teach how to recognize when someone may be thinking about suicide, how to provide an intervention and resources for connecting them with further support. Participants will also learn how personal and community attitudes towards suicide can influence a person’s willingness to ask for help. 

According to LivingWorks, suicide is the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide for ages fifteen to twenty-nine. Seventy-seven percent of suicides occur in low and middle income countries, and almost two million people in the United States attempted suicide in 2021. The Alberta-based organization offers training for individuals, groups, and workplaces. They believe that everyone has a role to play in the prevention of suicide, and that continued personal, social, and financial commitment to training and being willing to provide help will result in fewer deaths from suicide. 

LivingWorks, led by CEO Lance Armstrong, is endorsed by the World Health Organization, and has several accreditations from organizations all over the world. These include the International Coaching Federation and Suicide Prevention Australia. According to LivingWorks, they are designed to, “empower a community-based approach to suicide prevention enabling everyone to play a role.” They aim to create networks of safety where people live, learn, and work. So far, they have trained over two million people to prevent death by suicide, and offer trainings in more than thirty countries. They boast over 50 peer-reviewed studies that show the effectiveness of their program. LivingWorks also estimates that they’ve prevented over 300,000 suicide attempts through their training. 

There is no registration cost for the workshop, courtesy of the West End Health Foundation. Those interested in the training can register by calling (906)-482-9077 (ext. 303) or emailing kmartens@coppershores.org. The registration deadline is July 19.