We All Have A Role to Play: A QPR Gatekeeper Training in Suicide Prevention

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Kanessa Miller Doss, TUFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Troy University

First Presenter’s Email Address

kmdoss@troy.edu

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Kanessa Miller Doss is an Associate Professor of Psychology and COE Director of Operations- Montgomery Campus at Troy University. She is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) and National Certified Counselor (NCC). Dr. Doss is also a certified School Counselor and School Psychologist in the state of Alabama. She has nine years of experience as a public-school educator. Dr. Doss is also a certified QPR Gatekeeper in Suicide Prevention Training instructor. She is a member and board member of several professional organizations. Her research interests are social-emotional functioning with an emphasis on school/college campus violence, bullying, school psychology advocacy, youth suicide, and accessibility issues.

Second Presenter's Institution

Troy University

Second Presenter’s Email Address

scrawford@troy.edu

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Sherrionda H. Crawford is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Counseling, Rehabilitation & Interpreter Training at Troy University. She is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), credentialed as both a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-S) in Georgia and Alabama, as well as a Certified School Counselor in the state of Alabama. Prior to becoming a professor at Troy, she provided valuable counseling services to children and adults in both in clinical and school counseling settings. Dr. Crawford actively volunteers for the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) as a scholarship reviewer and mentor. Her research interests include trends in school counseling to include interpersonal violence and suicide prevention, as well as skill acquisition for counselors-in-training.

Location

Session Four Breakouts

Strand #1

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Strand #2

Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention

Relevance

Suicide is the leading cause of mortality for ages 10-34. The daily emotional, social, and academic pressures that children and adolescents experience increase the need for multi-tiered services for mental health in the community and schools, but especially suicide. This presentation relates directly to the “HEALTH”: Mental & Physical Health strand.

Brief Program Description

Suicide is not only a serious problem in the United States but a critical public health issue worldwide. This interactive session will discuss suicidality and address the roles of school teachers, administrators, school-based mental health professionals, staff, students, and parents. Participants will receive the Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) “Gatekeeper” training and receive certification.

Summary

Recent legislation such as the Jason Flatt Act and Jaime’s Law and consistent media attention have ignited great interest in suicide prevention in schools. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10-34. Thus, suicide prevention in schools is paramount to the success and overall well-being of students throughout their educational matriculation and beyond.

This presentation aims to provide participants with an introduction to suicidality in the schools to include prevalence, warning signs, protective factors, and targeted populations with elevated risk. Second, the session will identify the roles of teachers, administrators, students, staff, parents, and school-based mental health professionals such as school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists in suicide prevention. Third, the participants will learn how to apply the QPR suicide prevention approach to “gatekeeping” in the schools through role play. After completion of this session, participants will receive a QPR “gatekeeper” certificate, a QPR instructor booklet, and a list of resources.

The question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) is an evidenced-based gatekeeper program specialized in emergency response to someone in crisis with three basic steps. The program highlights that any person (e.g. teacher and administrator) who is advantageously placed to identify and refer someone vulnerable to attempting suicide (i.e. gatekeeper), not just clinicians can aid in saving a person. The QPR Institute highlights that the main tenets of the program are to recognize the warning signs of suicide, understand the various ways to offer hope, and identify methods to get help to save a person’s life.

Evidence

QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention has the prestigious honor of being listed in SAMSHA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Practices and Policies (NREPP). Independent research reviewers for NREPP reported that individuals trained as QPR gatekeepers have increased declarative and perceived knowledge, self-efficacy, and overall gatekeeping skills to include active listening, making clarifying inquiries, and providing appropriate referrals. The presenters are certified QPR trainers who are qualified to administer QPR training. Therefore, this presentation is based on the instructor’s training manual for QPR provided by the QPR Institute.

Learning Objective 1

Describe suicidality in the schools including prevalence, warning signs, protective factors, and targeted populations with elevated risk.

Learning Objective 2

Identify the roles of teachers, administrators, students, staff, parents, and school-based mental health professionals such as school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists in suicide prevention.

Learning Objective 3

Apply the QPR suicide prevention approach to “gatekeeping” in the schools through role play.

Keyword Descriptors

suicide, suicide prevention, QPR, gatekeeper

Presentation Year

2022

Start Date

3-8-2022 8:30 AM

End Date

3-8-2022 9:45 AM

Recommended Citation

Miller Doss, Kanessa, "We All Have A Role to Play: A QPR Gatekeeper Training in Suicide Prevention" (2022). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 45.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2022/2022/45