Cathy Wheaton is leading the safeTALK training. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

warning signs

Tri-community residents invited to suicide prevention workshop

May 29, 2019 | 11:58 AM

Roots of Hope coordinator Cathy Wheaton is inviting the public to a safeTALK workshop Thursday at the Kikinahk Friendship Centre.

The workshop is aimed at educating the public on the warning signs of suicide and how to connect those individuals with help. She stated the half-day training session is open to anyone 15 or older, adding a free lunch is offered at 12 p.m. before the safeTALK presentation begins at 1 p.m.

“In the afternoon, we will be discussing the signs like what are the things people are saying or doing,” Wheaton said. “It’s for anybody in the community who are interested.”

Before Wheaton took the safeTALK training, as well as another two-day intervention workshop called ASSIST, she didn’t know what to do when encountering those who could be suicidal. She mentioned there’s likely a lot of other people in the tri-communities who also wouldn’t know what to do and the training will prepare them for those moments.

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“Before, I wasn’t always certain about that,” Wheaton said. “I’m not someone who has a health professional background. I do more of the promotion than the treatment. It was useful for me.”

Wheaton is also available to do safeTALK training at workplaces or for other groups of people upon request. By having as many people as possible trained with safeTALK, she added when a local resident is in crisis, there’s a higher chance someone will respond. Anyone interested in registering for the workshop Thursday or would like Wheaton to do another one in the future, can contact her at 1-306-425-8561.

“We can see about putting together a workshop and bringing the training to them, so we can make our workplaces more suicide safe as well,” she said. “You never know who could be in crisis and we don’t realize it.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno