I recently had the privilege of interviewing Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading, Pennsylvania, members Casey and Lindsay, who work together to train the community in QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer). This accessible suicide prevention training technique teaches individuals how to recognize suicidal behaviors and provide life-saving intervention by guiding them through three simple steps: asking about suicide, persuading the person to seek help, and referring them to appropriate resources.

This passionate duo believes that the impact of QPR extends beyond just the training itself—it sparks much-needed conversations, especially among youth, families, and community groups, breaking the stigma around discussing suicide and mental health struggles.

“We’re having conversations that a lot of times people feel very uncomfortable having,” Lindsay says. “We’re saying the word suicide, we’re talking about suicide, which is a huge barrier for a lot of people. So, I think just opening up these conversations and having youth be able to go home and talk to their families and talk to their grandparents, and then on the flip side, having grandparents being able to go and ask questions of the youth, it’s so important that we’re opening up the line of communication.”

Check out the entire interview in this Channel Kindness podcast below. (The transcript for this podcast can be found here!)