Question, persuade, refer

University counseling center hosts suicide prevention training in light of suicide awareness month

Ashley Evearitt said suicide is the second leading cause of death in teens 18-24.

“Suicide continues to be a prevalent issue in society,” the Counseling Center staff therapist said. “Students can sometimes forget how common suicidal thoughts among their friends and family members can be.”

The Counseling Center hosted a QPR training seminar Thursday evening.

QPR, an acronym for question, persuade and refer, outlines the steps individuals should take when talking with someone they believe might be in danger of hurting themselves or others.

“We set up the seminar more discussion-based,” Evearitt said. “We had the students role-play as the student in distress and as the concerned friend. It was important they did these exercises because it revealed to them holes they might have. Learning how to ask someone about suicide is one thing, but having to actually do it is another thing altogether.”

Students broke up into groups of three. One student acted as the student in distress, another acted as a friend, and the third student observed and took notes on how well the concerned friend did.

Students were graded on criteria such as body language, listening skills and how well they appeared to help the distressed friend. Some students were scripted to act as a bad listener, while others were instructed to be empathetic and caring. The good listeners represented those who had gone through QPR training, while the bad listeners symbolized those who had not.

Students said they noticed how the good listeners made direct eye contact, nodded in understanding and gave the student in distress enough verbal lapse to collect their thoughts.  

“We have all been in a situation where we came to someone to talk about something that was bothering us and the person we came to completely dismissed it,” Evearitt said. “When you are coming to someone and asking them about something that might be wrong, be prepared to listen and talk for as long as necessary.”

Evearitt said the three main marks of a good listener are empathy, paraphrasing to clarify understanding and highlighting clear options the student in distress can take.

“Actually asking people about suicide is really hard,” Evearitt said. “It’s not a topic we usually bring up in conversation with our friends. This training gives confidence and training to students when they have to face those really tough conversations.”

Lauren Branon said she was shocked to find out suicides are more common than homicides.

The sophomore psychology major said the seminar offered her new ways to approach the subject of suicide.

“Close friends often come to me to talk about problems they are having because I am a psychology major,” Branon said. “The seminar presented an easier way to ask if someone is thinking about hurting themselves. Like you could say, ‘I know people who have gone through similar situations often think about suicide, is that something you have ever thought about?’ Instead of bluntly asking if they are thinking about suicide.”

Branon said suicide is an uncomfortable topic.

“A lot of people don’t know how to respond when someone comes to them with something like self-harm or thoughts of suicide,” Branon said. “This is an important basis of information. I think everyone should go through this training.”

Monica Jarboe said she has gone through similar training before.

The senior psychology senior said the youth services home she is employed at teaches the employees to ask two simple questions: “Have you thought about killing yourself?” and “Do you have a plan?”

“QPR training is much more in-depth than that,” Jarboe said. “QPR teaches you how to connect and have a conversation with someone when you can tell something is wrong with someone but you don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

Jarboe said the role-playing activity gave her good starting points.

“It was difficult for me to be the concerned friend in the scenario where the student was experiencing grief,” Jarboe said. “I wanted her to understand I cared, but I couldn’t relate to what she was going through. I didn’t want to make her think I was trying to relate too much.”

Evearitt said even when you cannot understand what someone is going through, you can empathize with them.

“You may have never lost a loved one, had thoughts of suicide or gone through a hard break-up,” Evearitt said. “But you can be there for someone, listen to them and let them know you care about them and what they are going through.”