Rowan County Health Department to host suicide prevention training

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Rowan County Public Health will be hosting a two-day LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop on May 3 and May 4, 2022. This training will take place at the Rowan County Public Library ( 201 West Fisher Street, Salisbury) in the Stanback and Hurley Rooms, from 8 am to 5 pm, each day.

LivingWorks ASIST is a two-day interactive workshop that focuses on suicide first aid. This workshop teaches participants how to recognize when someone may be having thoughts of suicide and be able to work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Trusted by professionals yet learnable by anyone, LivingWorks ASIST is an evidence-based program that has been empowering people to provide skilled, life-saving interventions for over 35 years.

Here locally, Rowan County has definitely seen an increase in the number of individuals dealing with mental health and/or substance use issues. In 2018, in our last published Community Health Needs Assessment, both mental health and substance use were identified as two of the top three priorities in our county. Even though our suicide rate did start to decrease somewhat in 2019, we all know that COVID-19 has definitely affected everyone’s mental health to some degree. We also know that the mortality rate of opiate poisoning continues to be an issue in Rowan County; where one overdose is one too many.

Due to the nature of this workshop and the small-group learning sessions, we can only offer this training to 45 individuals at this time. With that being said, we have created an Eventbrite registration for anyone that is interested in attending. You may also register for this training by contacting Amy Smith at amy.smith@rowancountync.gov or at 704-216-8859. Before registering, please note that you must be able to attend both days of this training.

If by chance you are not able to register at this time, Rowan County Public Health does plan to host another LivingWorks ASIST workshop in the coming year.