Suicide Prevention Workshops Set for First Responders
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Area Health Education Center will offer two workshops in October on dealing with suicide for first-responders.Each year, more than 30,000 Americans take their own lives. Another 500,000 visit emergency rooms for self-inflicted injuries. Most often emergency medical technicians, firefighters and police are called as first responders to these deaths and injuries.
Their response can make a difference not only in the lives of friends and family of a person who attempted or died by suicide but in the larger community.
Barry N. Feldman, director of psychiatry services in public safety and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, will present both workshops.
The first workshop, "Suicide Intervention and Prevention: What EMTs and Firefighters Should Know," will be held Wednesday, Oct. 6, and the second, "Suicide Intervention and Prevention What Police Officers Should Know," will be Thursday, Oct. 7.
The workshops are from 9 to 3 and the cost of each is $20, which includes materials and lunch. The workshops will be held at the Berkshire Hills Country Club, 500 Benedict Road. These workshops have been approved for all levels by state Office of Emergency Management Services for five hours of continuing education.
Registration is required by Oct. 4. To register: www.berkshireahec.org, or call 413-447-2417 or toll free 866-976-2432 between 8 and 5 weekdays.
