|
|
Greetings!
October is National Depression Awareness
Month. In this issue we highlight
CrisisLink's depression awareness and suicide
prevention workshops and training
programs.
CrisisLink's 24/7 mental health services
guarantee immediate access to help for anyone
facing depression, in crisis, or
contemplating suicide, regardless of
socio-economic status, health insurance
coverage, or support network.
This is made possible by the support of
people like you. Please consider donating
today to ensure continued 24/7 access to
support when people need it
the most.
 |
|
|
Spotlight on: CrisisLink's Community Education Workshops
October marks Depression Awareness month
Depression is a common, but serious medical
illness that can affect people in all
demographics and can interfere significantly
with an individual's ability to function in
daily life. More than 45 million Americans
will suffer from clinical depression at some
point in their lives, and far too many
clinically depressed individuals attempt
suicide.
Depression is a treatable
illness that often
goes untreated or unrecognized. Depression
can be devastating to all areas of a person's
everyday life, including family
relationships, friendships, and the ability
to go to work or school.
CrisisLink's Community Education Program
offers workshops and seminars designed to
help people recognize the risks and warning
signs of depression and suicide.
These and other workshops we offer teach
essential skills, such as:
- Depression: Symptoms, Impact & Treatments
- Suicide: Risk Assessment, Prevention,
Intervention, & Postvention
- Stress Management
- Working Through Grief and Loss
- Critical Incident Response Training
- Expressive Therapy Workshops
- Phone Crisis Management
- Dealing with Angry and Difficult Callers
- Active Listening & Communication Skills
- Setting Professional Boundaries
CrisisLink's Community Education workshops
are available for mental health workers & EAP
personnel, teachers & school counselors, law
enforcement, teens & peer mediators, parents,
customer service representatives, information
& referral specialists, and anyone else
seeking to enhance communication skills, to
reduce personal or professional stress, and
to gain a better understanding of mental
health and illness. To learn more about these
and other workshops, please contact Mary
Azoy, CrisisLink's Director of Community
Education & Crisis Response, by
email or at 703-516-6771.
If you are in crisis, contemplating suicide,
or are worried about someone who is, please
call CrisisLink at 1-800-273-TALK.
If you are seeking information and referrals
to mental health or other resources in the
community, please call CrisisLink at 2-1-1.
To request CrisisLink's Hotline Wallet Cards
(in bundles of 50), please click
here.
To learn more about CrisisLink's full range of programs, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
Conversations: CrisisLink Talks Training!
Organizations talk to us about how CrisisLink's trainings helped them
CrisisLink recently presented suicide
prevention workshops to two organizations -
the Veterans
Administration (VA) Medical Center and
Northern Virginia Licensed Professional
Counselors (NVLPC).
Patricia Toles, the Suicide Prevention
Coordinator at the VA Medical Center spoke to
us about their experience with the ASIST
Training facilitated by
CrisisLink.
Q: What type of training did CrisisLink
provide for you/your staff?
ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills
Training)
Q: What did you/your staff learn from the
training?
I am already a trained ASIST instructor so I
was [familiar with ASIST]. The training
taught our mental health staff the importance
of suicide first aid and how to talk to
someone who is in crisis.
Q: Why was it important for you/your staff
to have this training?
We sent a variety of staff to the training,
including psychiatrists, psychologists,
social workers, nurses and psychiatric
technicians. Many of them know what to do
once the person gets to their office; however
I wanted them to take their "hats" off and
focus on what can be done before the patient
is seen in a mental health setting. It is
important that all of our staff know how to
talk to someone in crisis. The VA now has a
National Suicide Hotline and many of our
veterans are calling the clinics and programs
in crisis. This training taught them how to
handle a crisis on the telephone.
Q: How did you/your staff benefit from
this training?
The training has taught the staff the
importance of crisis intervention and how to
develop a Safety Plan to keep the patient
safe. It also gave them more confidence to
talk to patients in crisis.
Dr. Tracy Bushkoff, Co-President of NVLPC
spoke to us about her
experience:
Q: What type of training did CrisisLink
provide for NVLPC?
CrisisLink provided a suicide prevention and
intervention overview to NVLPC.
Q: What did you learn from the
training?
While we are an organization of clinical
counselors this workshop was important for
our members as a reminder of the criticalness
of our work, the intensity of the client
suicide threat and what to actually do
clinically for a client who is suicidal.
Q: Why was it important for you and your
staff to have this training?
This training is important because we can
never forget our skills in a crisis, no matter
how many years of training and experience we
may have.
Q: How did your staff benefit from this
training?
NVLPC members who attended had the
opportunity to review their skills, revisit
the crisis situation and discuss cases, laws,
ethics, and procedures during a suicide
intervention.
To request a training, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
Reading Corner: Books on Depression
Seven books you might want to read
Mary Azoy, CrisisLink's Director of Community
Education & Crisis Response, recommends
seven books for those wanting to
better understand mental illness, depression,
and how it affects those around us.
An Unquiet Mind
by Kay
Jamison
Kay Redfield Jamison, a
Professor of Psychiatry, tells of her own
struggles with bipolar disorder, the bitter
costs of her
illness, and its paradoxical benefits.
(Memoir)
Down Came the Rain
by Brooke
Shields
Actress Brooke Shields talks candidly
about her experience with postpartum
depression after the birth of her daughter.
(Memoir)
Unholy Ghost
by Nell Casey
A collection of 22 modern essays about
depression by writers (several well known)
who know their subject intimately. (Memoir)
Will's Choice
by Gail Griffith
Gail Griffith's son,
Will, attempted suicide at the age of 17.
Her book discusses the
suicide attempt, and both her son's
depression and her own struggle with the
illness. (Parents and Teens)
On the Edge of Darkness
by Kathy
Cronkite
A collection of people's essays about
their struggles with major depression and
bipolar disorder. The author's own struggles
inspire her to help change the dialogue
about mental illness and to educate others on
healing and treatment. (Everyone)
How You Can Survive When They're Depressed
by Anne Sheffield
Offers useful coping strategies for those
living
with someone who is clinically depressed or
suffers from bi-polar disorder. Such family
members often suffer in silence, believing
their own problems have no claim to
attention. (Everyone)
When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival
Guide for Depressed Teens
by Bev Cobain,
R.N.,C.
This book offers important and engaging
information to
help teens who are suffering with depression.
Bev Cobain is a clinician and the cousin of Kurt
Cobain, a rock idol who died by suicide. (Teens)
If you are in crisis, contemplating suicide,
or are worried about someone who is, please
call CrisisLink at 1-800-273-TALK.
If you are seeking information and referrals
to mental health or other resources in the
community, please call CrisisLink at 2-1-1.
For more recommended mental health resources, click here.
|
|
Thank you for your support!
|
|
