Summer 2004
This Issue Contains Several New Developments And Important Opportunities For Certified QPR Instructors.

For the first time, in our memory, suicide prevention activities are not slowing down this summer but, rather, speeding up. All across America grassroots organizations, departments of public health, divisions of mental health, advocacy groups, and universities are engaged in active planning and/or implementation of suicide prevention strategies.

We applaud all QPR Gatekeeper Instructors as change agents in this new social movement and cultural shift in attitudes about suicide. If what is happening is not a tipping point, we don’t know what is. It is clear that it only takes a few well-placed communicators to shift the national climate, break down the stigma and enhance mental health literacy about the connection of untreated brain disorders to death by suicide. You are becoming just such a force for change and, as a result, you are sending of a message of hope and healing to those suffering from thoughts of death and suicide and to those who have already lost someone to suicide. Thanks to all of you, more than 8,000 people have been trained in QPR since our last newsletter!

Based on our social-psychological theory that the person most likely to save you from suicide is someone you already know, we have a new saying around the Institute: To prevent suicide we must train hundreds to save one, thousands to save hundreds and millions to save thousands. While much is being done, much more needs to be done, and together we will succeed.

The QPR Institute wishes to acknowledge the U.S. Armed Forces and their families for their efforts in the Middle East.
Welcome! The ranks of Certified QPR Gatekeeper Instructors continues to grow. One hundred and twenty-nine new instructors have been trained since the spring newsletter. Congratulations to all of you from RI, KS, TN, VT, NJ, FL, PA, MD, ND, NE IN, TX, SD, MO, MN, NJ and MA!
Special note: With funding from the Division of Mental Health in Tennessee, Scott Ridgeway, Executive Director, TN Suicide Prevention Network, trained 40 new QPR Instructors who have agreed to train no fewer than 500 persons each in QPR. The math is simple: 20,000 new Gatekeepers will now be in a position to help intervene to prevent a suicide attempt. If each person trained has an average of five intimate others for whom he or she is now a gatekeeper, then the potential favorable impact of this initiative could touch the lives of 100,000 people. We like their slogan, too, “Saving Lives in Tennessee.”
Action item: We do not use this newsletter in an attempt to achieve political ends unless those ends have a direct bearing on our mission. As some of you know, the Garret Lee Smith Memorial Act passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and will be addressed by the House of Representatives soon. This bill will help fund suicide prevention for youth and college-age students. Working together with SPANUSA and other organizations, we strongly encourage you to contact your congressperson and ask that he or she support this bill. For those of you receiving the newsletter in e-form, just click here. For others, please visit www.spanusa.org, or contact your legislator directly. A bi-partisan issue, there is every reason to believe this bill could pass into law with your support.

Note: For a new and helpful summary comparing QPR to CPR see the web site under About QPR, then click on What is QPR?


Housekeeping: Many of you have wondered and asked about customizing the QPR gatekeeper training program. With PowerPoint a major AV delivery system these days, and with many of you wishing to “tweak” the program, let us review the following points:

  • We do encourage you to add your own stories to your program delivery, as this gives the QPR program passion and personal power.
  • By agreement with us, you must teach the basic 21 slide program as taught to you, and give each participant a QPR booklet and card (if you do not have the latest edition of the full slide set, they are downloadable from the web site in the instructor’s area).
  • You may add additional slides on relevant subjects, e.g., clinical depression, domestic violence, substance abuse, etc., and sets of these are provided to you as well. We do ask that you if you elect to insert these within the basic curriculum, that you allow us to review the order of the slides first.
  • We do encourage you to “brand” the QPR slides in your own logos, colors, and especially encourage you to add slides at the end of the program containing referral information and phone numbers. Excellent examples of customized QPR programs are available on request.

The urge to “tweak” another’s program is great. We understand this. But we want to remind you that QPR not only seems to be “working” but that it is undergoing a major 3-year federally funded evaluation. Of considerable concern to the scientists conducting this study is that QPR is taught the same way each time. Only by teaching QPR with a high degree of fidelity can any accurate measures be taken regarding the training’s intended effect on learning, retention, and human behavior. Be assured, however, that as we research and evaluate the program, we will keep you informed as to any changes, why they were made, and for what reasons.
We need your help: We are working with several Native American Tribes to develop culturally sensitive, educational materials. We need recommendations in three areas: 1) web sites, 2) books, readings, scientific articles, and 3) sample role plays that can be used to teach QPR. If you can help, please contact Brian Quinnett at bquinn@turbonet.com or by phone at 208-882-6160.

We have successfully launched our QPR for Colleges and Universities program. To keep the momentum going, we could use your help to spread the word. We have prepared an orientation and program description packet of materials (open letter, background documents, complimentary book and sample QPR on CD-ROM program. etc.) for college counselor center directors or deans of students. Several of our colleagues have offered to “hand deliver” these packets directly to their contacts at colleges and universities. Others have offered to provide us the names and addresses of contacts. If you would like to help “get the word out” we can:
1. Send you the generic packets for hand delivery to someone you know at a college or university (please specify how many packets you would like)
2. Send the materials directly to persons you’ve identified for us (Please tell us if you would like us to mention your name when we send the materials).

For a review of the open letter and package content, click here.
To email us your directions, please click here.
Thanks so much for your attention and for helping to prevent suicide.
QPR Instructor Toolkit Update

Because, like politics, all suicide prevention is local suicide prevention, we strongly encourage you to develop, refine and test your community suicide prevention re-sources and referral systems and then retest them from time to time. Part of the hesitation Gatekeepers experience about asking the “S” question is that they fear they may not be able to get additional help for the suicidal person. To help you review these resources we’ve included a new Suicide Prevention Community Resource Sheet. We ask that you take a few minutes to complete this document. We believe it is important for Gatekeepers to have, at their fingertips, local and responsive resources for crisis response and assistance (Click here to download). Feel free to edit and adapt this as part of your training handouts.
Keep up the wonderful and life-saving work!
The QPR Institute
P.O. Box 2867
Spokane, WA 99220
e-mail: qinstitute@uswest.net
www.qprinstitute.com
Phone: 888-726-7926