SAVE THE DATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 7 P.M.
PJHS suicide awareness presentation will provide families
with tools to help teens in crisis
 

Suicide can be prevented & lives can be saved. That is the key message that will presented at the Suicide Awareness & Prevention program in the Port Jervis High School auditorium on Thursday evening, October 11 at 7 p.m.

The powerful program will be presented by Sean Gerow of the Family Empowerment Council and a panel of special guests, whose lives have all been touched by the tragedy of suicide. The speakers’ personal stories are intended to provide parents and guardians with an insight to this very sensitive and difficult topic.

The same presentation will also be provided to Port Jervis High School students at assemblies scheduled on October 23 and 24.

Port Jervis High School social worker Diane Marsin-Furst says, “Suicide can be prevented and lives can be saved, just by other people knowing the warning signs of suicide and having a willingness to help.”

She explained that Gerow has been working with the Port Jervis School District over the past two years to provide Question, Persuade and Refer suicide prevention gateway training to faculty, staff and students at both the Middle and High School. “The objective of the QPR training is to provide everyone with the tools to reach out to someone in crisis, with particular emphasis on the need to bring that friend or peer to the attention of an adult who could provide further assistance,” said Marsin-Furst, who serves as the High School’s teen awareness project coordinator.

Marsin-Furst noted that the value of this type of training is reflected in the increase in the number of referrals to student support staff who are available to assist at-risk students and connect them and their parents/guardians, when needed, to outside services.

The October 11 program is free and open to the entire community. For more information on the program or suicide prevention, contact Marsin-Furst at 858-3102, Extension 11645.  PRESENTATION FLYER