The importance of recognizing the signs, communicating with the person at risk and getting help or resources for the person at risk

safeTALK, a workshop about three hours in duration, is a training that prepares anyone over the age of 15 to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources. Most people with thoughts of suicide invite help to stay safe. Alert helpers know how to use these opportunities to support that desire for safety.

safeTALK-trained suicide alert helpers are better able to: move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss or avoid suicide; identify people who have thoughts of suicide; and apply the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen and KeepSafe) to connect a person with suicide thoughts to suicide first aid, intervention caregivers.

The workshop uses powerful video clips to illustrate both non-alert and alert responses. Discussion and practice help stimulate learning—learn steps that contribute to saving lives. safeTALK is for everyone who wants to help prevent suicide: front line workers, clergy, volunteers, parents, grandparents, youth over age 15, teachers, law enforcement officers…anyone who wants to help prevent suicide.

Mary-Margaret Caldwell is a recent arrival to the Mid-Vancouver Island area. Mary-Margaret has been trained to present safeTALK workshops and she presented a few months ago in Nanaimo.

We speak with Mary-Margaret Caldwell, in a People First Radio interview from March 2014.

mary-margaret caldwell on safetalk
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