Hood River County Prevention, School District partner on suicide prevention

But there is hope.

Hood River County Prevention Department and Hood River County School District have joined together to prevent suicide as well as destigmatize mental health issues.

“Destigmatizing mental health issues is the crux of all this,” said Belinda Ballah, Hood River County Prevention director. “By doing that, I think we can decrease the number of suicides occurring.”

Ballah, representing the prevention department, and Anne Carloss, director of student services, and Erin Rust, mental health specialist, both with Hood River County School District, recently presented at the Oregon Suicide Prevention conference in Ashland Oct. 11-13. The conference focuses on “rebuilding and growing connections between individuals, providers, local and state resources and prevention leaders,” according to the OSP conference website, oregonsuicideprevention.org/conferences.

There, the trio led a workshop sharing what the county prevention department and school district are doing to prevent suicides, as well as to support those who have lost someone who has died by suicide.

“(Our workshop) was encouraging to other communities, that they could replicate what we’re doing here,” Ballah said. “A big part of the presentation was the amount of suicide prevention training we’ve done for all (school district) staff.”

Called QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer), the course is designed to “reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training,” according to the QPR Institute (qprinstitute.com).

So far, approximately 500 HRCSD staff have been trained in QPR — administrators, bus drivers, maintenance and facility crew, nutrition services, instructional assistants, teachers, librarians and substitutes.

“We didn’t leave any one category of staff out because every single person is important,” Ballah said. “I think it was encouraging to people (at the conference) to see that it can be done and we weren’t just leaving it at the school district, but attempting to get the community at large trained as well.” She added that another important component is that they “acknowledged the fact we’ve already lost people to suicide — so how can we support the survivors? We’ve made it a comprehensive plan to support people in their journey.”

Now that 75% of staff at the high school are trained in QPR, it’s being offered to students as well. One of the criteria for student training is that the majority of staff at a site must be trained so both can support each other.

In a taped statement for the presentation, Hood River County School District Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn said the district made the training part of its strategic planning process at the start of the pandemic; in early April 2020, sites closed and distance learning began.

“One of the things we heard over and over again from our community and our families and parents, staff and students, was the safety and wellness of our students and staff,” he said. “… We wanted to make sure that we included wellness into our strategic plan because we know that when our students and staff can show up ready to think or to learn, when they’re emotionally regulated, when they feel like they’re in a safe place, we know that outcomes for students are going to be improved.”

HRCSD has additionally set new goals: To train new staff, recruit bilingual instructors, offer QPR in Spanish, and to provide more training for students and community members.

There have been obstacles and barriers along the way — COVID, of course, but also some staff resistance (feeling as if their plates were already full) and low community participation when offered.

Ballah said there are no community QPR trainings planned in the coming weeks, but interested persons should contact her at the prevention department at 541-387-6890 or belinda.ballah@hoodrivercounty.gov. “We are happy to schedule a training,” she said, “but we’d like to have a group of five or more.”

The department also has resources for those looking for more information on suicide loss and prevention.

Youth Mental Health First Aid offered

Hood River County Prevention Department is offering an in-person Youth Mental Health First Aid Training on Monday, Dec. 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hood River Alliance Church gym.

“This seven hour workshop gives people the tools to identify when a youth might be struggling with a mental health or substance use issue and connect them with appropriate supports and resources when necessary,” said a press release.

Cost is $120, which pays for the book and the facilitator; tickets at eventbrite.com/e/youth-mental-health-first-aid-tickets-452281134047. The training requires a minimum of 10 attendees.