Mission:
The Western Colorado Suicide Prevention Foundation is committed to reducing suicide in Western Colorado and other adjacent geographical areas by providing suicide awareness and prevention programs, suicide prevention education and training programs, and funding other suicide prevention efforts and activities. The Western Colorado Suicide Prevention Foundation spans twenty-one counties in Western Colorado.
Results of a recent ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) class:
On Saturday morning my husband and I were in the car together. He mentioned off-handedly that an old high school friend of his had posted some ominous statements regarding the pain he was in following the death of his 25 year old daughter. He talked about never being the same, withdrawing from facebook, and so on. My first reaction was "Why didn't you tell me! You know I just spent two days in ASIST class!".
We got home that night and sent a private message to his friend using the skills I learned in class. We first showed our compassion for his pain. We gave him the "1-800-273-TALK" phone number and because of the training I knew the importance and had the courage of asking him directly. We had no phone number to contact him directly, so had to rely on this means of communication.
It was such a relief the next morning to get a lengthy communication from the man promising that he would not need the 'talk' phone number, as he has 2 other children and fears God's wrath too much to hurt himself. We are convinced that suicide is not an option for him from his note and he said he might call my husband at sometime just to talk.
It felt so comforting to have the skills to be able to step in and engage this man in conversation. Many people on the facebook page showed their love for him following his statements. But we were able to ask the direct question of suicide, which I never would have thought to do, even following the suicide of my own brother, without your training.
Thank you that situation came up so quickly that I feel that these are skills I will use again in my life. Blessings for this wonderful program being brought to us! Kim
Chuck Kornman received the honor of Citizen of the Year 2009 for his work with our suicidal kids. We would like to thank Chuck for the countless hours he puts into our organization as our #1 Volunteer. Chuck teaches with our TEENLink Suicide Prevention Program in the Middle Schools. This smile breaks down all barriers and warms everyone it touches. Thank you Chuck, we love you.
Photo by Gretel Daugherty
Case Statement:
The Western Colorado Suicide Prevention Foundation was formed out of need in our community. A small group of organizations got together to form a coalition to prevent suicide. That coalition began research and implemented a number of programs to help reduce the suicide rates in our area. We were initially grant funded and are now a self-sustaining non-profit organization. Our suicide rate has remained nearly twice that of the United States rate since 2000 so there is much more work that needs to be done.
