Students Receive Suicide Prevention Training

Middle School and Upper School members of the REDgen student chapters at University School of Milwaukee underwent special training to learn how to help prevent suicide. The training was led by Beverly Goldberg, co-founder of REDgen, and Gregg Bach, president of REDgen and retired assistant head of school at USM. 

The training materials were provided by QPR Institute. QPR stands for Question, Persuade, Refer, which are three simple steps that anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. As part of the training, students learned how to recognize the warning signs of suicide, how to offer hope, and how to get help—steps that can help to save a life. 

“You students are the eyes and years of the school,” said Bach. “You can be a first line of defense for your peers here and even later on in college. This training will help you identify risk factors and early warning signs. It doesn't make you a trained therapist or counselor but it does give you the skills to recognize and help somebody who is having a mental health crisis.”

Many thanks to USM counselors Elina Kats (Middle School) and Lizzy Perry (Upper School) for coordinating the training and service as a resource for participating students.

About REDgen:
REDgen is a Milwaukee-based organization which fosters active community conversations around what it means to live a healthy, balanced life with authentic success. USM and REDgen are partners in bringing national-level speakers to Milwaukee each year in a series of speaker events that are free and open to the public. More information on speakers who visited USM in previous years can be found here.