(CHCC) — The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation-Community Guidance Center certified 28 individuals in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training or ASIST on May 12 and 13, 2022.
ASIST is an evidence-based suicide intervention training program that provides participants with the skills necessary to connect, understand, and assist persons who may have thoughts or are at risk for suicide. It provides personalized, life-assisting, first-aid intervention training that reinforces help-seeking behaviors for those at risk for suicide.
Since 2018, the CGC has certified 489 individuals in ASIST in the CNMI: 412 from Saipan and 77 from Rota. Plans to offer the training in Tinian are in progress.
“We want our community to know that suicide is a public health issue and that it’s everyone’s business,” said CHCC CGC Prevention Specialist Queayla Sablan. “When we teach our community members how to conduct a suicide intervention, we build a more resilient community — a community better equipped to help residents who may be at risk of suicide.”
The two-day workshop, held at the Pacific Islands Club, included participants from the CGC Crisis Counseling Program, CGC Behavioral Health Response Program, the CNMI Public School System, and the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Fred Fatialofa, Queayla Sablan, and Daisy Villagomez-Bier from CGC facilitated the workshop. For more information on ASIST, visit www.livingworks.net, or call the CNMI Suicide Prevention Program at (670) 664-LIVE (5483).
Help is always available from the Community Guidance Center. If you or someone you know are feeling alone and uncertain of the way things are, reach out and call the CGC office at (670) 284-0843/0847 or 323-6560 for mental health support and coping skills.
For more information about CHCC programs, follow @cnmichcc on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; visit https://www.chcc.health; or call (670) 234-8950.
Participants from the CGC Crisis Counseling Program, CGC Behavioral Health Response Program, the CNMI Public School System, and the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence were recently certified in suicide intervention skills.
