Missouri Guardsmen receive suicide intervention training

By Spc. Sarah E. Lupescu
Ngmo.pao@US.ARMY.MIL

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Fifteen Missouri National Guardsmen participated in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training at the Ike Skelton Training Site recently.

ASIST is a two-day course designed to help recognize and to intervene to prevent the immediate risk of suicide.

"Whenever you get a Soldier who is potentially a suicide risk, you want to do the right thing," said 1st Sgt. Harold Naugle, Company C, 1st Battalion, 138th Infantry Regiment. "This course provides me with a playbook to guide me through the intervention of a potential suicide."

In the understanding phase, the caregiver is expected to be able to understand the person at risks reasons for living and dying through the task of listening. The core training process includes lectures, mini-lectures, open-ended questioning, Socratic questioning, simulation experiences and whole group simulations.

"The training breaks a suicide intervention down into three phases: connecting, understanding and assisting," said Capt. Robin Markham, an ASIST instructor and the Suicide Prevention Program Manager for the Missouri National Guard. "The phases form the foundation of the suicide intervention model. Within each phase, there are specific concerns that the caregiver must address through corresponding tasks."

The Missouri National Guard actively focuses on suicide awareness and prevention. There has been a significant drop in Soldier suicides in the Missouri National Guard this year, but even one suicide is too many, she added.

"This training is beneficial because it trains our Soldiers how to recognize when and how an intervention can unfold in response to the needs of a person at risk," said Markham. "Soldiers shouldn't be afraid to ask how their buddies are doing just because they don't know how to respond to a suicidal soldier."

The Missouri National Guard hopes to hold ASIST workshops quarterly throughout the calendar year.

"I hope that people who receive this training will be ready and willing to reach out to their fellow buddies and share with them what they have learned from this training," said Markham.

The training will be hosted at the Ike Skelton Training Site, but brigades are welcome to arrange for a mobile training team to come to their location.

We would like to see all 87 Missouri National Guard Suicide Intervention Officers, mental health and health services personnel, first line leaders and anyone else that is interested in receiving the training sign up for one of the workshops, Markham said.