HeartLine

HeartLine’s Healthy Education for Life Program has a new look and feel! After countless hours of preparation and research, HeartLine’s Director of Suicide Prevention and Outreach, Lisa Harper, has rolled out the new suicide prevention program materials just in time for fall. The program redesign is much more interactive than its predecessor and includes a new video featuring several stories of those affected by suicide. The new version of HELP has already been introduced in several area schools and will be presented throughout the fall by HeartLine volunteers.

Interested in assisting HeartLine in its suicide prevention efforts? Here are two main ways you can help:

1. Set up a meeting between your local school principal or counselor and HeartLine. Contact HeartLine’s Director of Suicide Prevention & Outreach Programs, Lisa Harper, to arrange a meeting. In this meeting, Lisa will outline the program and help determine how best to get its information into the hands of your students. To contact Lisa Harper, email lharper@heartlineoklahoma.org or call 405-840-9396 x114.

2. Become a volunteer presenter of HELP presentations in middle schools and high schools. HeartLine is seeking volunteer presenters and have a training session scheduled for Saturday, November 5th. In this six hour session from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., volunteer presenters will learn the basic structure of HELP and will be trained in how to present the information and conduct the interactive activities that make up the curriculum. Here’s a quick rundown of the requirements for a volunteer trainer:

• attend the 6-hour training session
• commit to a minimum of 20 volunteer hours per year
• work within a flexible volunteer schedule that is mostly made up of daytime presentations

We leave you with the new HELP video preview. The video is used in every HELP presentation and is about 20 minutes long, but this 90-second preview will at least give you a sense of the overall style. All the people featured are telling their own stories. We invite you to help spread the message of suicide prevention by getting us connected with a school or becoming a volunteer presenter. Thanks in advance!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OOSnRGajIY]