Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Amy Elker | Utilizing the Pathway for Assistance Life (PAL) model, Steven DeLuna [Center...... read more read more
SALEM, Ore. — Marital and family strife, issues at work, financial stress, hardships due to deployments and a myriad of other issues may lead a service member to contemplate suicide when they feel there is no other way out. While the causes of suicide are complex and not fully understood, the additional life stressors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, has only heightened the awareness of mental health concerns that Guard members and civilians may face.
The Oregon Army National Guard’s (ORANG) Service Member and Family Support (SMFS) program offers training for Soldiers to help them recognize those who may have suicidal ideation and get them the help they need before it is too late. The Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day interactive workshop that instructs participants in providing life-assisting suicide first-aid intervention to those at risk for suicidal thinking, behavior and/or attempts.
The training utilizes the Pathway for Assisting Life (PAL) model, which is made up of three steps. These steps involve recognizing a person who has suicidal thoughts and making a connection, understanding his or her story and choices, and working together to develop a “safeplan” to keep the individual safe from immediate harm and resources to receive further help.
After training, participants will be more equipped to: identify those who have thoughts of suicide; understand how beliefs and attitudes can affect suicide interventions; listen to the story of a person with thoughts of suicide and recognize turning points that connect that person to life; as well as conduct a safety assessment, develop a safeplan and confirm the safety actions to be carried out.
Steven Deluna, Resilience and Risk Reduction program lead, SMFS, ORANG, is one of the ASIST training facilitators. Deluna said every single member of the Guard community should take the ASIST training.
“Oftentimes, people don’t feel comfortable or confident to take on these conversations, which leads to the culture of our community, (Oregon National Guard) being incredibly passive and assuming others will be the one to help, but not us,” Deluna said. “While the professionals may be more prepared and equipped to provide support and intervention, they’re not the first ones, typically, to come across someone in need. We all, individually, are each other’s front-line leaders and need to have the confidence and tools to take care of each other on a human level.”
Vicki Farnsworth, Risk Reduction coordinator and interim Suicide Prevention coordinator, is the other ASIST training facilitator. Farnsworth said while this training is essential as a first-line of defense for suicide, it is more than that.
“This course teaches us how to address the larger issue of connectedness and reducing the hopelessness and helplessness that comes with isolation,” she said. “We are all human and deserve to have a connection to life, build rapport with others, and care for our fellow person.”
Maj. Robert Earhart, DCSOPS Training Branch Chief, JFHQ, Oregon National Guard, attended the ASIST training last December. Though he had previously attended Master Resilience Training (MRT), that was his first-time attending ASIST.
Earhart said he wanted to participate in the training because he knows how much of a personal impact resiliency training has had on him and has guided how he interacts with others.
“I felt learning ASIST would help me recognize warning signs and red flags in other soldiers, as well as people in my civilian life, and allow me to intercede appropriately” he said. “Having more people trained on ASIST in my unit also makes us stronger and more supportive of each other.”
During the training, each participant has to role play a scenario, with one individual contemplating suicide and the other applying PAL.
“Genuinely reacting to someone talk about suicide is a scary process because you don’t want to react harshly or say something that could push them away,” Earhart said. “On the flipside, putting yourself in the shoes of someone with suicidal ideation is tough because you have to consider how they’d express their feelings, what they’d be willing to share, and how open they might be to getting help.”
Farnsworth believes ASIST is something everyone should be trained and retrained on to ensure people in distress have people to talk to, both in the military and in our civilian lives.
“At least two people in every squad, as well as officers and NCOs responsible for leading soldiers should be trained and able to sit down with someone to discuss how they’re feeling,” she said. “Too many service members and veterans die from suicide every day, and if a genuine and heartfelt conversation can begin the process to help them recover from suicidal ideation, then it should be one of the military’s highest priorities.”
Within the last year, attendees from previous ASIST trainings have provided one-to-one life-saving interventions. Farnsworth said one recent ASIST graduate provided intervention after seeing an alarming post on social media. Another ASIST trained service member led a fellow Soldier through PAL until the “safe for now” status had been established. The service member then communicated the situation to someone in their chain-of-command who dropped everything to go check on the distressed Soldier.
“It would be amazing if every single person in the Guard could attend this training,” Earhart said, “because that would mean we’d have that many more eyes and ears watching for signs of suicidal ideation in each other.”
While the ASIST training is available to all Oregon National Guard members and their families, funding is only available for Army Guard Soldiers who will be placed on orders to receive pay, travel and lodging for their attendance. The training is provided four times a year, once every quarter, which is typically scheduled in four different cities to make it as accessible to Soldiers as possible. The four trainings courses that will take place in 2023 will be held in Portland, Salem, Bend and Medford. If you or a Soldier in your unit is interested in attending the training, please contact Vicki Farnsworth by email at vicki.r.farnsworth.ctr@army.mil or by phone at 971-355-3430.
Dates and Locations for training:
Anderson Readiness Center in Salem from 18 January – 19 January 2023.
Camp Withycombe in Clackamas from 22 March – 23 March 2023.
Bend National Guard Armory in Bend from 10 May – 11 May 2023.
Medford National Guard Armory in Medford from 12 July – 13 July 2023.
Course Hours: The course hours are 0800 - 1630 daily. Timelines are driven by the Course Instructors. It is required that you attend both days of training to complete the course and receive certification. Report with required documents and classroom items (notebook, pens, highlighters, etc.) Workbooks will be provided.
Uniform: The Uniform for Service Member and Civilians/Technicians is business casual (no jeans, shorts, flip flops, provocative attire, etc.).
Important Note: In July of 2022, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988 number went into effect, making it quicker and easier to access help. Now, instead of trying to recall a 1-800 number, the Veteran/Military Crisis Line may be reached by dialing 988, then pressing 1.
If you, or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you do not have to struggle in isolation. Please contact the crisis line, someone in your chain of command, the Chaplain, or Behavioral Health staff member.
| Date Taken: | 12.01.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2022 12:56 |
| Story ID: | 435084 |
| Location: | SALEM, OR, US |
| Web Views: | 141 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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