QPR for Sports and Coaches

Why this training program?

Your Role in Suicide Prevention

Sports coaches consider a very wide range of issues when preparing athletes; such as physical fitness, speed, stamina, strength and conditioning, flexibility, co-ordination, hydration and nutrition to name but a few. Perhaps consideration also needs to be given to the mental health and well-being of athletes when preparing them to perform under stressful circumstances.

As a person working with sports people you may be the one significant person in their lives, who spends more time with them than any other. By knowing your athlete you may also be the one person in whom they may confide in when in trouble or experiencing mental health difficulties. Therefore you may be in a position to detect, screen, identify and refer at risk sports people to appropriate qualified professionals for support and treatment.

An investigation of the impact of a coach the coach project with Australian rural football club leaders as mental health advocates, found that following training in mental health first aid that 50% of club leaders who did the training showed increased capacity to recognise mental health difficulties in others and 66% said they had greater confidence in responding to others. They reported the training built on existing skills and fulfilled their perceived social responsibilities and empowered them.

The mission of the QPR Institute is to:

• Raise public awareness about suicide and its prevention.
• Provide affordable, accessible, evidence-based training to lay persons who may be able to prevent a suicide.
• Provide advanced suicide prevention training to a wide variety of healthcare and other professionals, including sports coaches.
• Reduce morbidity and mortality of suicidal people across the age span.

As of this writing in early 2017, the Institute and its faculty have trained almost three million gatekeepers worldwide. In addition, thousands of clinical health care providers have been trained in how to detect, assess, manage, and treat suicidal consumers.

We believe that all coaches need to know as much about mental health and suicidal behaviors and how to intervene to reduce risk and enhance safety as is reasonably possible. To this end, the online program you are about to take is intended to train you in the knowledge and skills you will need to protect athletes from suicidal self-directed violence.

As many coaches have lost colleagues, student athletes, and even family members to suicide, this training program is also designed to help create a safer world not only in our sports club, team, workplace or community, but in our personal lives. Taught to well over two million people by the end of 2015, QPR training works as a universal intervention for all people in distress. Not everyone you may ask about suicidal thoughts will have them, but many people are still in crisis will need help and behavioral health evaluation, perhaps even treatment.

We know that coaches and their staff are in frequent contact with athletes who may at risk of suicide. Learning to recognize and respond to possible suicide warning signs, and how to facilitate a competent referral and follow-up is key to preventing suicide.

This training is not a substitute for a university degree in counselling or other mental health profession, nor can it provide the face-to-face supervised experience those in the helping professions are provided in the course of their professional career development. The program does not teach suicide risk assessment skills. Suicide risk assessment training is provided in other QPR Institute programs.

• Participants must be at least 18 years of age
• If employed by, or volunteering for, an organization, participants agree to accept all expectations and employment rules of their parent organization
• The QPR Institute does not vet or otherwise qualify students for this course.

Modularized in a rich mix of text, video, voice-over PowerPoint™ lectures, interactive practice sessions, and other state-of-the-art interactive and e-learning technologies, the QPR for Sport Coaches training program provides a dynamic introduction to suicide risk detection, intervention, means restriction, referral and follow up.

At the end of training participants should be able to:

• Understand suicide as a major public health problem ,
• Understand the common myths and facts surrounding suicide
• Identify unique verbal, behavioral, and situational suicide warning signs
• Recognize and respond to someone in distress who may be at risk of suicide
• Know how to inquire about suicidal intent and desire
• Recognize at least three suicide warning signs
• Recognize at least three risk factors for suicide
• Recognize at least three protective factors against suicide
• Demonstrate increased knowledge, skills, self-efficacy and intent to act to intervene with suicidal athletes and others
• Know how to engage and assist a suicidal colleague or co-worker
• Describe "means reduction" and life-saving action steps
• Know materials, phone numbers, and referral resources
• Understand the nature of suicide and describe at least one theory of suicidal behavior
• Describe and locate major suicide prevention web sites and online resources
• Demonstrate increased knowledge about suicide and its causes
• Engage in an interactive and helpful conversation with someone who has attempted suicide
• Engage in an interactive and helpful conversation with the loved ones or family members of someone who has died by suicide