Public Health Corps member becomes suicide prevention trainer
Public Health Corps members serve their communities in so many ways. For Donovan in Duluth, he’s used his service to develop new skills in a field important to him. Read what he has to say about his training opportunity!
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, totaling 49,449 deaths in 2022 nationwide. In Minnesota, the number of suicides rose from 808 in 2021 to 835 in 2022. This is important because these are all preventable deaths if we find out what is truly going on in an individual’s life.
Suicide should be approached from a public health perspective because even though this may sound a bit nosey, it is everyone’s business. SafeTalk, created by Living Works, is an entry level training that anyone has the capability of taking. This is a four-hour training that equips people to become more alert to someone thinking of suicide and can help connect people with thoughts to further help. My service site, St. Louis County Public Health, has been determined to get more individuals trained as SafeTalk trainers to help more people become trained in the basic steps of SafeTalk.
I had only heard about SafeTalk before my term of service, but now that I have been trained as a SafeTalk trainer, I see the immense value of this training with helping individuals who are having thoughts of suicide. This training is very important to me because once more people are SafeTalk trained, we as a society can be more alert to identify and better equipped to help those who are having thoughts of suicide, making our community a suicide-safer environment.
We are in the works of planning more trainings, and if any organization/community is interested in hosting a SafeTalk training in the Northeast region of Minnesota, do not hesitate to reach out!
- Donovan, Public Health Project Coordinator & Living Works SafeTalk Trainer
About Public Health Corps
MN Public Health Corps is part of a nationwide initiative to boost capacity in the public health sector. Our program trains AmeriCorps members in Minnesota to support community engagement, data collection, project coordination, and sustained COVID-19 response and recovery. Public Health Corps provides members with valuable, hands-on experience in public health, plus training, career coaching and support from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.