Providing Hope and Saving Lives

Providing hope, and saving lives–Community members in Carpinteria are speaking out about suicide, and how to prevent it.Crisis prevention professionals believe the more people know about suicide, the better prepared they will be to prevent it.They held a public forum Thursday night, to teach residents members how to recognize someone who may be at risk, and what to do to help.Experts say nearly twenty people have committed suicide in Santa Barbara County this year alone.That’s why a group of concerned citizens formed “Hopenet.” Their goal: to lessen the number of attempted and completed suicides within the county.Many of them, including Bob Kingston, feel the issue is not talked about enough.”A lot of times we don’t know how to respond properly and people are reaching out for help and we don’t catch the symptoms.””Hopenet” sponsored a forum in Carpinteria Thursday night, to highlight those symptoms, and teach people how to effectively respond.The group also created hundreds of informational pamphlets, which it plans to distribute throughout the city.A video of the forum will be distributed to organizations–including schools and churches throughout the county.As part of this effort The Glendon Association, a local nonprofit that conducts research and education in the areas of suicide and violence prevention, will be offering psychological first aid classes in October. If you’d like to learn more, go to: http://www.glendon.org/