LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Suicide is an epidemic in our community, and across the country - and the stresses and isolation of the coronavirus pandemic are only making it worse.
According to Dr. Joe Bargione with the Louisville Health Advisory Board, someone in Kentucky dies by suicide every 12 hours. However, he calls this a preventable epidemic.
National Suicide Prevention Week aims to reduce the number of people lost to suicide by raising awareness and sharing available resources with the community.
NAMI Louisville, an organization that provides mental health services, is providing virtual suicide prevention training through the end of October.
These free courses can teach you how to identify the warning signs of suicide and coach you through interacting with that person through a Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) method.
The training lasts around 60 to 90 minutes and registration is available on namilouisville.org. There are multiple options for days and times, so there should be one to work with everyone's schedule.
The training is currently only available for people who live and work in Jefferson County, but NAMI Louisville said it is working on making the training courses more widely available.
Please remember that there are resources to help if you or someone you know is struggling.
The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available anytime, day or night at 800-273-8255.
Contact reporter Rob Harris at rjharris@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@robharristv) and Facebook.
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