Ventura’s Harbor Village trains bartenders in suicide prevention

VENTURA, Calif. - The Ventura Harbor Village is training their bartenders and servers in suicide prevention.

It is doing this training with Question Persuade and Refer (QPR).

The Greek Restaurant has spearheaded the effort and is distributing materials in advance of upcoming training. 

Other harbor businesses like Andria’s Seafood, 805 Grilled Cheese, Copa Cubana, Ventura Harbor Comedy Club, Harbortown Point, Harbor Cove Cafe, Brophy Bros and Frutellis Pizza are also participating.

The program was implemented in 2018 by Ventura County Behavioral Health. The program focuses on increasing access to services for men who may be suffering in silence with suicidal thoughts and actions.

The project trains bartenders to recognize the signs of mental distress among patrons. The QPR training is supported by a targeted outreach campaign.

The campaign features Ventura County residents, as well as ex-National Football League quarterback, Erik Kramer, sharing their stories in hopes of diverting others from suicide.

In its final project year, Ventura County is working to reduce the total of number of suicides in the county.

In 2019, there were 94 suicide deaths in Ventura County and nationally, rates are climbing in part, due to COVID-19.