MENTONE — The Tippecanoe Valley Community Mental Health Task Force invites the public to attend an upcoming session of QPR suicide prevention training.

QPR stands for Question, Persuade and Refer – three steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. People trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade and refer someone for help.

The training session will be conducted by Hunter Randall, corporate training coordinator for the Bowen Center. Randall is a highly-skilled trainer who brings a vast background of meaningful and applicable experiences to his training sessions.

The training will take place at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26, in the Large Group Instruction room at Mentone Elementary located at 301 E. Jackson Street in Mentone. There is no charge to attend. The training will last until approximately 5:30 p.m.

Anyone interested in attending the training should check in at the front office a few minutes prior to the start of the training session. All Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation staff hired since last year’s training will be required to attend.

The Tippecanoe Valley Community Mental Health Task Force is comprised of close to 50 people from several different counties, professions, businesses and non-profit agencies. The task force was formed as a result of two suicides in the Tippecanoe Valley area in December 2012.

The task force met for the first time on February 19, 2013, with the goals of providing suicide prevention training to the community including Tippecanoe Valley staff and students. Its mission is to develop strategies to both increase knowledge and provide support, while reducing the stigma of mental illness. The task force meets once a month during the school year.