'Hope Squad' offers suicide prevention training with simple tools to combat complex issue
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - September is suicide awareness month, and with it comes stories of hope surviving amid the senseless loss of someone by their own hands.
Fort Worth-based suicide prevention training and education organization, Hope Squad was brought to North Texas by the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation.
"Our mission at the foundation is to prevent suicide, eliminate stigma and provide hope to people struggling with depression and we really envision a world where suicide is never the choice," shared Director of programs Kristi Wiley.
The foundation was established in 2014 by Tom and Ellen Harris after their daughter Jordan Elizabeth Harris died from suicide in March 2012.
An integral part of their program is its "QPR" suicide prevention training for community members of all ages.
QPR stands for Question, Persuade and Refer, and it's the three simple tools that anyone can learn to save someone from suicide.
It sounds like CPR on purpose, according to Wiley.
"CPR is an emergency intervention for someone who's not breathing," she said. "QPR is an emergency intervention for someone who is thinking about suicide and the whole idea is that anyone can get trained."
Providing support and resources, the training prepares people for asking hard questions -- directly.
"We know when we can be direct about mental health, when we can let somebody know that we care enough about them to ask the question... We actually know that it can open the lines of communication to have a conversation," said Wiley.
