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Thank you for considering the QPR
Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention in your classroom. This new
online educational program may be used with a wide range of students,
including college students, high school seniors, police and fire cadets,
seminarians, call center trainees, crisis line workers, and those studying
to work as beauticians, dental assistants, paralegals, veterinarian assistance
and many others.
QPR in the Classroom is an online program requiring a broadband internet
connection. It can be assigned as a homework assignment or a clinical
lab. Or, it can be taken in small groups simultaneously in a computer
lab.
The QPR Institute provides a deep discount for QPR online training to
students and staff of educational organizations. This is discount rate
is available by email.
For assistance with questions regarding access to the QPR in the Classroom
program (User IDs, passwords, service functions, and account management),
please call Brian Quinnett, QPR National Training Director, at 208.882.6160
or email.
What your students will learn
Participants completing the approximately one hour QPR online gatekeeper
training should be able to:
- Recognize someone at risk for
suicide
- Demonstrate increased knowledge
of intervention skills
- Describe knowledge of referral
resources and how to refer someone to help
For a complete list of the goals and objectives, and core curriculum content
of the QPR in the Classroom online gatekeeper training program, click
here.
Before you begin
Suicide is not an easy topic to discuss. In general, students have very
little knowledge about suicide, its causes and how it can be prevented.
However, students are vitally interested in the subject. Many students
will have known someone who attempted or died by suicide and studies have
shown that a substantial number of young people have experienced suicidal
thoughts and feelings. Based on health risk surveys of both high school
students, young adult, and college students, you may assume at least some
students in your classroom have thought about suicide. Some may even have
attempted suicide.
Your willingness to encourage or
assign students to complete QPR training helps reduce the fear, stigma
and shame associated with suicidal behavior. By increasing suicide awareness
and understanding you are helping to address an important public health
problem. Your classroom discussion of this topic will help create a new
culture of openness and discussion regarding suicide and your leadership
will help save lives.
Instructor resources
This guide is designed to assist
you in conducting post-QPR Online Gatekeeper Training with one or more
follow up classroom sessions designed to better understanding and prevent
suicide. The following modules include:
- Instructor orientation
- How students access training
- How to track student completion
of QPR training
- How to evaluate training aggregate
outcomes (if desired)
- How to conduct a post-training
QPR practice session
- How to provide referral and crisis
response action steps to students
- Recommendations on review of QPR
training
- Classroom suicide prevention resources
Instructor orientation
QPR is usually taught face-to-face in small classroom settings by QPR
Certified Gakekeeper Instructors. You are, if you like, welcome to become
a Certified QPR Instructors. Simply complete an online application for
the self-study program by returning to our home page.
However, demand for QPR training exceeds the supply of Certified Instructors.
By blending the expertise of qualified teaching professionals with the
online QPR training program many more students can receive this life-saving
training.
For an orientation to QPR, its theory
and practice, we invite you to fully explore this web site and read the
QPR Theory paper.
How students access training
Students register online individually and receive their educational discount
at the time of payment. After registration, materials are shipped to the
address provided by the student. These materials are not necessary to
begin or complete the training. Once registered, students may begin the
training immediately. Please use our printable handout to direct students
for registration. (right click/save as) - Student
Registration Handout
How to track student completion
of QPR training
The QPR Online Gatekeeper Training has been engineered to assure the integrity
of educational content each student receives. Students should be instructed
to print their Certificate of Course Completion and bring it to class
as proof that they have successfully passed the 15-item quiz.
When announcing the assignment you may say, “When you have completed
your QPR training and successfully passed the exam, a computer-dated Certificate
of Course Completion with your name on it will appear on your computer
screen. Please print two copies of this certificate. Retain one for your
files and bring the other to class.”
How to conduct a post-training
QPR practice session
Practicing the QPR intervention in the classroom is strongly recommended.
If you devote a classroom session to review and practice the QPR intervention,
please ask that students first complete the QPR online training and read
the QPR booklet and card (these are mailed directly to students shortly
after they have completed all 12 modules of the QPR training).
Be sure to have your referral resources
ready as QPR is most successful when students know to where and to whom
they are supposed to refer or accompany someone in crisis.
To build on the success of the online
QPR training, we recommend or more of the following classroom sessions
be held:
A. Q&A/Referral only option (minimum 30 minutes)
Conduct a 30-45 minute post-training question
and answer period for all those who have completed the online QPR training.
Following a welcome and introduction, allow:
- 10 to 15 minutes for questions
and answers
- Review local policy and procedures
regarding how referrals are made
- Review your institutions crisis
response plan. Distribute any hard-copy handouts for related materials,
including additional reading, web sites or assignments
B. Q&A, Referral and
Practice Session option (minimum 45-60+ minutes):
In addition to the Q&A above, and if you are qualified and familiar
with role-plays, conduct a practice role-play session. A printable catalogue
of role-plays is provided here
(right click/save as). You may edit these role plays to suit your class
or create your own per our recommended format.
The goal for this practice session is to focus
on how to ask the Suicide Question in a sensitive, yet direct manner and
then proceed to practice the Persuade and Refer steps.
Students are reminded to use active listening
skills to learn about the nature of the crisis with the end goal of persuading
the person to accept help and a referral. A QPR intervention is not a
clinical suicide risk assessment interview. Rather, it is a CPR equivalent
in recognizing suicide warning signs and how to use active listening and
gentle persuasion to help move the suicidal “actor” to acceptance
of professional services.
A PowerPoint file is included here
to assist in the practice session. This 45-60 minute session should include
the following:
- A welcome and brief outline of what will be
accomplished in the meeting (2-3 minutes)
- A brief Q&A regarding the student’s
experience of the online training program (up to 15 minutes)
- A thorough review of local referral resources,
emergency, and crisis response systems (5-10 minutes)
- A role-play experience of not less than 20
minutes (10 minutes per person in both roles)
- Discussion of role-play experience (3-5 minutes
after each role-play)
- Distribution of any hard-copy handouts
- The instructor remains to answer any residual
questions or assist with referrals (time will vary). The instructor
is the last person to leave the classroom
Conducting the Role-Plays
- STEP 1: Have students pair up and create some
space between the paired couples.
- STEP 2: Ask students to decide who will be the
distressed person and who will be the Gatekeeper for the first role-play
and have this person raise his or her hand. You will reverse this experience
after the first role-play.
- STEP 3: Pass out role-plays to the distressed
person and instruct everyone that the Gatekeeper does not read the role-play.
- STEP 4: Once the distressed person has read
the role-play to him or herself say to the audience: “You will
be allowed 15 minutes to listen to the problem, detect a suicide warning
sign and complete a QPR intervention and referral.”
Then say, “The distressed person will now read the top part of
the role-play to the potential Gatekeeper (which describes who he or
she is and the problems he or she is dealing with) “Do NOT READ
the lower one-half of the role-play to the potential gatekeeper (list
of risk and protective factors).”
- STEP 5: Say, “You have 15 minutes. Please
begin.”
- STEP 6: At 12 minutes, announce they have 3
minutes left. At 14 minutes, announce they have 1 minute left.
- STEP 7: Allow students to process their experience
according to the PowerPoints provided here.
In debriefing the role-play, it is useful to share your experiences
with others if you so choose. You may wish to read the actual role-play
scenario at this point.
- OPTIONAL STEP 8: If you are using the evaluation
form to be completed by a third person observer of the role-play exercise
(see below), instruct the observer to complete the Structured Role-Play
Evaluation Form at the end of the role-play exercise and share results
with both students. You may choose to share the observer’s findings
with the entire group.
Repeat steps 1-7 for the second role-play.
Structured Role-Play Evaluation Form
Please note that practice is an important step in the development of any
skill, including the QPR intervention. In addition to the post-test quiz
in the online training program, we also provide you a quantitative measuring
tool to determine how well participants conduct their QPR intervention
in the role-play environment (click
here for tool). This tool allows other participants to act as observing
evaluators to measure skills. Depending on your time and mission you may
wish to provide this assessment as part of post QPR Online Training experience.
Pre-practice session options
We encourage you to have your students practice with peers prior to the
post-training practice session. The online QPR training program includes
a downloadable generic role-play which may be printed and, following instructions,
practiced with a colleague, friend or peer. This role-play will allow
participants the opportunity to try different ways of asking questions
in an environment that is safe, while still allowing them the opportunity
to find an approach that best suits their conversational and interactive
style. The more practice they experience, the more comfortable the act
of asking the suicide question will be.
Take Home Message
The important message here is that students must find a way to become
comfortable in asking the suicide question. Addressing the subject of
suicide with someone who has been afraid to talk about his or her suicidal
feelings and thoughts is the iron key that opens the golden door to hope.
All the real, immediate, underlying, historical and cultural reasons why
suicide is under consideration can only be learned through the establishment
of a relationship based on hope and trust. If this door is not somehow
opened, the suicidal sufferer is seldom helped and often left with a greater
sense of despair and hopelessness.
Recommendations on review of QPR training
Students have access to their QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention
program for three years from date of purchase. The QPR Institute recommends
annual review of the core training slides. Also, the QPR online training
program undergoes frequent upgrades in content, videos, and cultural,
ethic and language options. Students should be reminded to keep their
access codes handy as they may encounter a crisis situation and need to
refresh their training.
Classroom suicide prevention resources
For a budget sensitive option to add to the QPR Online Training, a best-selling
free e-book may be downloaded or read online by students. Suicide: the
Forever Decision is available on the Institute’s home page and has
become a classic in the field. Instructors interested in assigning this
book to students may request a free quiz and scoring master from the QPR
Institute (see technical assistance above).
Students studying for the helping professions
will find Dr. Paul Quinnett's third edition of Counseling Suicidal People:
A Therapy of Hope very useful. They can be ordered from the QPR website's
bookstore.
A third edition of the book is published by Eastern
Washington University Press. Professors wanting review copies for classroom
use should send a request for a desk copy to ewupress@mail.ewu.edu from
their university address or on university letterhead.
Classroom suicide prevention materials
A variety of suicide prevention fact sheets, statistics, overviews and
clinical findings can be found at the web sites listed below. As students
are often interested in local or state statistics, these can be retrieved
from you local county health office or the Department of Public Health,
Injury Prevention Division of your state. Your student counseling center
or other student resource center may also have relevant material or helpful
ideas and input. They may even be invited to your classroom to explain
to students how to make referrals.
We especially recommend the National Institute
of Mental Health (www.nimh.gov)
for the most recent relevant research summaries and breaking news.
We also recommend the free subscription to Suicide
Prevention Resource Center’s weekly news report on suicide prevention
activities and updates. (www.sprc.org).
For an orientation to developing social policy
and the current status of suicide prevention in America, we invite you
to read and/or review the following publications and web sites.
Thank you for participating in National Strategy
for Suicide Prevention.
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