SafeTALK is a preventative workshop that highlights the signs of suicide. The workshop is aimed at people over the age of 15-years-old and is designed to make people more aware of the indicators that somebody may be at risk of ending their life.
A follow-up course, called ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), is at an intervention level, designed to give people the tools to intervene if they are witnessing someone attempting suicide.
“Kids talk to kids,” says Sue Shier, a trainer for the SafeTALK program, “so if we could get kids able to recognize when a friend is on that brink, or thinking of suiciding, then we can get help for that child.”
Shier, who is also a community outreach worker at Piwapin Woman’s Centre in La Ronge, adds that she works with schools in northern communities to inform them on heavy hitting topics such as suicide, relationships and bullying.
Beyond training young people, Shier says that it could be a lifesaving tool for parents.
“For parents who may never feel that their child may feel suicidal, even for a parent to have that information, because, if in fact their child hits a time in their life where they are struggling, a parent is going to think to them self, ‘I know that’s a sign of suicide,’” says Shier.
Shier says that talking about suicide is considered taboo and through programs like SafeTALK will help break the walls down to promote open conversation
The programs are created by LivingWorks, a training company out of Calgary that was founded in 1983. Their main goal is to create suicide safe communities and their services are used all over the world.
A TalkSAFE Workshop will be held in La Ronge in January and is free of charge. Participants must be over the age of 15, and will receive a certificate upon completion of the course.
(PHOTO: LivingWorks Education logo from LivingWorks Education Facebook page.)