WMH hosts suicide management training at Vendome

The statistics are sobering, if not altogether staggering.

 In 2020, there were 45,979 deaths by suicide in the U.S., which pencils out to one death every 11 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 And Prevention – with an uppercase “P” – was one of the operative components of a well-attended day of training and discussion led by clinical psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst Kent Corso.

 First responders, school employees and administrators, mental health professionals, and others locally and from around the Treasure Valley attended the training, which was hosted by Weiser Memorial Hospital as part of a $1.2 million HRSA funded tele-behavioral health grant.  

 The event took place on Oct. 20 at the Vendome Events Center in Weiser.

 “We were thrilled to be able to bring a speaker of this caliber to our area,” said Kim Burgess, WMH Foundation HRSA grant Project Director. “This training provided education that is applicable, timely and so needed in our rural community. Dr. Corso spoke on this challenging subject with grace and dignity, encouraging us to do our part to bend the curve.” 

 “Dr. Kent Corso was an amazing speaker and so knowledgeable. It was a pleasure being able to attend his training and engage with other local community first responders and behavioral health professionals in such a specialized setting,” said WMH Education Coordinator and RN Danielle Marvin.  

 “He spoke openly and honestly about suicide and gave all of us many tools to put in our toolbox for future use. This information will be beneficial for our community and make us more aware of the challenges and stigma associated with suicide and mental and behavioral health in the future”

 Corso has researched, developed, and trained others, both military and civilian, to implement evidence-based methods of suicide prevention and intervention nationally and internationally. 

 Other critical topics during the training included signs and symptom recognition, which is key in prevention.

 It involves how we as individuals perceive those around us, more specifically the people we know; those relationships, which can include family members, acquaintances or even a co-workers, enabling us to gauge the person’s “baseline” behavior.

 “So, we are talking about if you see something, say something; we are talking about trying to reach out and help someone, but how do you know?” Corso posed to a crowded room of about 60 attendees. “You can’t know every single person around you. And, also, is it Ok to just ask people their personal business if you don’t know them? That’s kind of off-putting. 

 “So, everyone has a baseline, what they look like when they are social, what they look like when their mood is good, when they are thinking clearly; then there is what they look like when they are depressed. We don’t need to know everybody in-depth; we just need to have a sense for what their norm is, what their baseline is. When we see a change in that disposition, we should say something.”

 There are also more specific signs, such as people talking about death and dying or “giving up.” Corso shared a story about a police officer who made an off-hand remark, stating that “I think it’s time to check out.” He later ended his life.

 “A statement like that is not something you hear every day,” Corso said. “Just clues like that, that are not normally what you hear from people – if we can train everybody to respond to those, we are going to beat these suicides.”

 When reaching out to help someone who is struggling, he said, it is helpful to start with an observation.

 “‘Hey, you don’t seem like yourself,’ something that’s personal … but you don’t want to be insulting or in some way make them defensive,” Corso stressed. “You want to open a line of communication and then you follow up with, ‘Hey, are you doing Ok?’ and you can’t stop with ‘how are things going?’ because what do you get? ‘Fine, good, great, same crap, different day.’ We get these programmed responses … so, you have to be much more direct: ‘Are you doing Ok? Are you in a bad place? Are you thinking of killing yourself, ending your life?’ 

 “I would rather have that awkwardness … than to not ask and know that I could have helped someone and later found out that they did harm themselves. But that’s just me; everybody has to make their own personal choice.”

 According to the CDC, firearms are used in over 50 percent of suicides, a subject that led to a discussion about the U.S. Constitution and how “Safety can be improved without violating 2nd Amendment rights.”

 Corso said the polarized political “noise” surrounding guns has nothing to do with the solution. The solution, he said, is delaying access.

 “When we talk to people who attempted suicide by firearms and lived, and we say how much time went by between thinking, ‘I think I’m going to kill myself’ and reaching for the gun, 24 percent made the decision in five minutes; 70 percent made the decision in one hour. So, this is not about removing guns; this is about buying an hour of time. It’s about delaying access.”

 Everyone in attendance was provided a free gun lock, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies following up the discussion with a live demonstration on how to install the lock on a variety of firearms.

 “What we do know is that if everyone of us leaves this room today and we don’t do one thing more about this issue than we did yesterday, we should expect the same suicide rates.”

 Idaho is ranked in the top 10 states in the nation with the highest suicide rates.