Samaritan Movement trains 300 in suicide ‘first aid’

— programme to expand to Tobago

The Samaritan Movement trained more than 300 people in Mental Health and Suicide First Aid before the September 7 reopening of schools, as it continues to expand community-based mental health support and suicide prevention training.

At a press briefing at the Belmont Pastoral Campus, Belmont, on September 16, with the observance of September as Suicide Prevention Month, head of the Samaritan Movement, Fr Gerard McGlone SJ said, “We have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, we  specifically wanted to get all this training done  before school starts so that youth ministers, teachers and pastoral members would be ready and equipped for the new school year.”

Mental Health and Suicide First Aid training helps people recognise distress, respond supportively and connect those in crisis with professional care.

Programme Manager Lliana Riddess-Rodney said at the invitation of Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon, the Samaritan Movement, since June, has delivered a ground-breaking, historical and culturally adapted Caribbean Mental Health and Suicide First Aid programme across four vicariates: Northern, Southern Eastern and Central. Tobago will be next before year end.

Riddess-Rodney said, 267 clergy, pastoral workers and other members participated. The organisation also delivered its first Caribbean Youth Mental Health First Aid and Suicide First Aid cohorts in north and south Trinidad, reaching another 56 young leaders.

Riddess-Rodney said training is expected to be impactful as trainees return to their schools, ministries, families and communities. Fr McGlone said data from Childline and the Children’s Authority indicate there is a “mental health crisis”. He said many interventions and trained people are needed. He announced training will be expanded, through collaboration with the Office of Youth Ministry, and the Samaritan Movement has been invited to conduct training regionally.

John-Michael Mader, a suicide attempt survivor and facilitator for the Suicide First Aid programme, shared his testimony of struggle and resilience. Commenting on pastoral care and prayer, he said, “prayer is the answer, but it is not the response” when prayer has been tried and there are questions. “Even though we may mean well, someone in distress may not be able to receive that word of advice to just pray,” he said.

Mader said the response must move beyond telling someone to pray and begin with noticing changes and asking directly: “are you thinking about…I have noticed”, followed by naming the observed behaviour. That approach, he said, can open the door to conversation and then prayer.

Fr McGlone said such advice, though well-intentioned, may cause someone to shut down rather than seek help.

To contact the Samaritan Movement: [email protected] or follow on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook channels @SamaritanMovement

— LPG