The Missouri Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF) state team piloted their latest suicide prevention project, the Faith Community Training Guide. The training is designed to provide additional suicide prevention tools and resources to faith leaders, officers, and their staff in congregations across the state, at no cost.
Faith leaders are the first responders to family crisis. As such, the state team explored ways to enhance suicide prevention tools and resources available to faith leaders. There are several types of tools available nationally that people can download and use on their own, which was great to see. Our team felt one way we can contribute to their prevention work was to bring in-person training at no cost to faith leaders across the state. This is what started the faith community training project.
The state team established a work group of faith leaders from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri National Guard, national VA, Kansas City VA, local community congregation, and community partners, to help create the faith community training guide. Together, they created a guide that any congregation across the state will be able to download and use to host a day of suicide prevention training for other faith leaders, officers, and their staff.
The guide itself includes agenda with four key topics: exposure to the military culture, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training, Conversations on Suicide Safer Homes lethal means safety training, and a panel discussion with different federal, state, and community resources. The guide has specific points of contacts for trainers, speakers, and panelists. It also includes brief explanations about how the different topics align with faith leader’s roles in their congregations and how it can help prevent suicide. There are pre- and post-training surveys to assist in gathering the impact the training has on attendees. The guide ends with additional resources and ways to continue professional growth in preventing suicide among Missouri’s military-connected community. The skills and tools learned in this day of training can also be used with the general public.
Next steps for the team are to review the surveys from the May 1st training, make any adjustments needs to the guide, then test the new version by hosting a day of training in Kansas City in a few months. The Missouri Governor’s Challenge state team’s goal is to make the Faith Community Training Guide available for use before the end of 2025.
About the Missouri Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF). The state team is part of a national initiative created in partnership between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Governor’s Challenge is a call to action, asking federal, state, and community interagency teams to embark on a process of collaborating, planning, and implementing suicide prevention best practices and policies for SMVF state-wide. Learn more about the Missouri Governor’s Challenge state team at www.mogovchallenge.org
A special thank you to American Legion Post 5 in Jefferson City, for the use of your venue to host the day of training. Your Chef provided a fantastic lunch meal. Thank you – HOAH!
