QPR Suicide Triage Training for Law Enforcement Personnel

Police officers frequently come into contact with suicidal persons. In addition to being provoked or attacked by suicidal persons whose intention it is to oblige the officer shoot to them in self-defense, police officers may learn of a fellow officer’s personal suicide crisis and may be the only “gatekeeper” able to respond in a life-saving manner. Increasingly, police officers fill important gatekeeper roles while on duty in schools, neighborhoods, college campuses and other non-traditional work sites.

In surveys conducted by the QPR Institute and the Law Enforcement Wellness Association, senior police officers report high rates of contact with suicidal persons and uniformly express the need for more training in suicide prevention tactics.

Recently, the Surgeon General of the United States has identified police officers as “key gatekeepers” in need of suicide prevention training. In the Surgeon General’s recently released National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action, Goal 6 calls for the implementation of “training for recognition of at-risk behavior” for law enforcement personnel. A complete copy of this document is available from the Center for Mental Health Services Knowledge Exchange Network by calling 1-800-789-2647, or at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library.

To help achieve this national objective, the Law Enforcement Wellness Association and the QPR Institute have developed state-of-the-art training programs for police officers who are in a position to identify, screen, and refer persons who may be at risk for suicidal behavior, including other officers. Called QPR Suicide Triage training, the program is based on QPR for Suicide Prevention (Question, Persuade and Refer), currently the most widely taught public health suicide awareness and prevention program in the United States.

Please see Police Suicide Survey for a better idea of the need for this training.

The QPR Suicide Triage Training program for law enforcement personnel can be delivered in an 8-hour, full day classroom setting, or as an 8 hour on-line and multimedia course. Taught by behavioral science and/or law enforcement specialists, the course covers:

The size and scope of the suicide problem in America
Risk factors for suicide
The current status of suicide risk assessment
How to Question suicidal persons
How to Persuade suicidal people to accept help
How to Refer them to resources
How to assist fellow officers who may be at risk for suicide
How to determine immediate risk for suicide
How to document a suicide risk assessment

Requirements:

Time: 8 hours
Passing the post-test with 75% or more correct
The course is approved by ASLET for continuing education credits
A certificate of course completion is awarded after successfully completing the post-test.

Course Objectives:

To learn about how suicide affects law enforcement personnel
To learn at least 10 risk factors for suicide
To learn about suicide risk in the law enforcement culture
To understand the relationship of mental illness to suicide
To understand the current limitations of suicide risk assessment
To learn how to interview a suicidal person, what questions to ask and why
To learn to properly document a first level suicide risk assessment
To become familiar, comfortable and competent in assessing and, if necessary, referring suicidal persons, either on the phone or in person.

Course Content:

Orientation to QPR Triage Training
Foundation lecture: Scope of the Problem
Foundation lecture: Mental Illness, Substance Abuse and Suicide
The Current Climate of Suicide Risk Assessment (text only)
Introduction to the QPR Triage Document
Learning how to ask the suicide question.
Learning the triage questions, rationale and samples
Role play exercises
Instructions for completing the QPR Triage Document
Evaluation and quiz with QPR Triage tactic