TRESCOTT — Healthy Acadia, in partnership with Cobscook Institute, will offer a free, two-day Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 17-18. The class will meet in person at Cobscook Institue, Commissary Point Road, Trescott, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training is an intensive, two-day, in-person training that explores how to skillfully intervene, assist individuals in crisis, and help them to stay safe. ASIST is an evidence-based curriculum from Living Works Education focused on intervention. Participants will learn how to safely engage with community members who are having thoughts of suicide to help them find “safety for now” and assist them in accessing community-based resources and support.
Participants will also learn how to use language which does not perpetuate stigma associated with having thoughts or feelings about suicide, understand the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and actions in our community, and connect with community resources. Another important aspect of the training will be prevention — working to build a suicide-safer community by learning warning signs for suicide and how to integrate resilience and connection to prevent thoughts of suicide in our community. The training is highly interactive and is appropriate for anyone in the community who is 16 or older.
“To date, over one million people have been trained in ASIST,” said Tara Young, Healthy Acadia’s Drug-Free Communities coordinator and certified ASIST trainer. “Many more are needed to help ensure our communities are doing everything we can to intervene and provide help for people who are having thoughts of suicide.”
ASIST training is comparable to CPR training — anyone in the community may be in a position to render CPR, and may have no other medical training, or they may be a doctor or a nurse. ASIST is similarly versatile. Any individual aged 16 and older, including teachers, students, doctors, mental health professionals, parents, and others, can become ASIST-trained.
Pre-registration is required. To register or for more information please contact Tara Young at 207-812-2090 or email [email protected].
This training is offered at no cost to interested community members aged 16 years and older. To make a donation to support the sustainability of ASIST training in our communities, go to bit.ly/support-asist.
Healthy Acadia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in a broad range of initiatives to build healthier communities and make it easier for people to lead healthy lives across Washington and Hancock counties, Maine. Learn more at www.healthyacadia.org.
