NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Bay Area Suicide and Crisis Intervention Alliance hosted a regional meeting of the State Suicide Prevention Network at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center on Nov. 6.

The event was a six-hour training and information sharing opportunity about the current best practices in suicide prevention, including discussion groups to ensure a better understanding of suicide prevention challenges.

More than 110 people from Mendocino and Lake counties attended this meeting along with Mendocino County Board of Supervisor Dan Hamburg.

The goal of the meeting was to provide training in best practices in suicide prevention to community gatekeepers – people in the community who provide assistance to those in need or who respond to trouble when called.

The target audience was staff and volunteers in schools; primary care settings; law enforcement; religious organizations; youth centers; ethnic and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community groups; mental health and suicide prevention advocates; and other first responders.

Melissa Ladrech, licensed marriage and family therapist of the Family Services Agency of Marin, provided training in “Question, Persuade, Refer.”

QPR is an evidence based practice that gives the lay person the comfort and basic skills to question someone about their suicide thoughts and risks, persuade someone to get help by listening in an open and non judgmental way, and to refer the suicidal person to the appropriate resources for help.

Kristin Dempsey, marriage and family therapist of San Mateo County Behavioral Health Department, gave a presentation on motivational interviewing as it relates to addressing suicidality.

The focus is on listening to the change factors in the suicidal individual’s conversation that indicate their reasons to hope and to live. The approach also emphasizes the importance of listening to and reflecting back the strengths the individual has and their personal reasons to hope.

The co-sponsors of the event were the North Bay Suicide Prevention Project, Mendocino County Health & Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, Lake County Behavioral Health Department, city of Ukiah, Mendocino County Office of Education, Circle of Native Minds Wellness Center, Manzanita Services, Redwood Children’s Services, Mendocino College Foster and Kin Care Education Program, Mendocino County Youth Project and Bay Area Suicide and Crisis Intervention Alliance.

For more information about resources and opportunities for suicide prevention training, contact one of the co-sponsoring agencies. To participate in North Bay Suicide Prevention Committee meetings, contact Mendocino County’s Health & Human Services Agency Mental Health Services Act Coordinator Robin Meloche at 707-472-2332.

For more information about suicide prevention, visit www.suicideispreventable.org and www.suicidepreventionmendocino.org .

Help for those in need can be found by calling the North Bay Suicide Prevention Hotline, 855-587-6373; or Mendocino County’s 24-7 toll free Crisis and Mental Health Services Access Line, 800-555-5906.