Saving people from suicide

A pastor, a mortician, a police officer, a nationally renowned expert on suicide prevention, mental health and educational professionals and a mother who knows firsthand the grief of losing a child to suicide will come together this week with hopes of saving lives in the Valley.

The Matanuska Susitna 2002 Suicide Prevention Tool Bag Conference is slated for April 26 and 27 at Mat-Su College. The event is free and open to the public, and organizer Brooke Youmans is hoping people from all walks of life will attend.

"Suicide knows no racial, sexual, educational or economic barriers," Youmans said. "It is all encompassing."

After her teen-aged daughter killed herself more than a year ago, Youmans learned of the rising number of teen suicides in the Valley and decided she had to turn her pain into positive action. Part of that action has included organizing this week's event, the first of its kind in Mat-Su.

Youmans said she was approached by the Women & Children's Health Associates last year after the group received a grant and wanted to organize a suicide-prevention conference. Youmans, with her personal experience and work in the mental health field as a service coordinator for Day Break Mental Health, seemed a logical choice to coordinate the event.

Youmans said the past months of putting the conference together have been challenging but rewarding.

"It has helped me to redirect my grief. It has been a healing process," she said. "At times it does get me down, but for the most part it keeps me up, knowing that I'm trying to make something good out of something very bad."

While past events in the Valley focusing on suicide prevention have focused primarily on mental health and education experts, Youmans said she wanted this conference to bring together the many different people who are affected by suicide. As a result, she hopes, the two days of seminars and presentations will attract a diverse group -- from teens worried about their peers to parents, pastors and teachers wanting to know more about preventing suicides.

"Basically any professional or concerned private citizen," Youmans said.

The conference's keynote speaker is Dennis Leisenring of Stowe Mental Health Associates in Vermont. Youmans said Leisenring gives presentations across the country on suicide prevention and is considered an expert in his field.

Leisenring will open the conference at 1 p.m. Friday with a class in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. The following day at 1 p.m. the doctor will present his keynote speech.

With the exception of Leisenring, the conference will be led by local people from a wide variety of fields.

"From the beginning I've stressed … that the one thing our community lacked was collaboration and communication," Youmans said.

Among the speakers on the first day -- LifeQuest CEO Bill Hogan, who will give a presentation on the community mental health perspective; communications manager and former Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon, who will address community interventions and the long-term effects of suicides on families and first responders; Pastor Howard Bess, on religion, sexuality and suicide; and mortician Fred Kehl on grief and suicide.

Dr. George Brown and Dr. Will Miles, both of Women & Children's Health Associates, will open and close the conference. Youmans, too, will give a presentation titled "The Forever Decision: Rebuilding Lives in the Wake of a Suicide." In her speech, Youmans said she will share her personal experiences as well as what she has learned as the founder of Suicide Survivors of Mat-Su and a member of the Mat-Su Suicide Prevention Committee.

The second day, beginning at 8:30 a.m., will focus on hands-on seminars. The Wasilla High advanced peer helpers will lead a panel discussion on the teen-age perspective on suicide, depression and prevention. Later, local educators and members of the Mat-Su Suicide Prevention Committee -- Peg Rogers, Linda Ransom and Dianne Demoski -- will provide training in QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer).

"It's a similar concept to CPR -- three life-saving techniques, but for suicide prevention," Youmans said.

The day's work will focus on raising awareness, dispelling myths and teaching skills. Participants will learn warning signs, find out how to ask a person if he or she is thinking of committing suicide and learn skills to persuade the person to keep safe and find appropriate help. The event is free and requires no prior registration. Registration will begin at noon Friday and events will be in Snodgrass Hall of Mat-Su College. Events are scheduled from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Sponsors include Women & Children's Health Associates, Mat-Su College, Juvenile Assessment Center, Mat-Su Democrats, Mat-Su Suicide Prevention Committee, Suicide Survivors of Mat-Su and Burchell and Wasilla high schools.