HeartLine

HeartLine’s suicide prevention and outreach initiative, the Healthy Education for Life Program (HELP) provides free, interactive training to increase awareness and empower students to prevent bullying and suicide among peers.  Since its inception in 1997, HELP has reached over 41,000 students in the Oklahoma City metro area with its in-class presentations and seminars.

HELP learning opportunities focus on dispelling the negative stigma of getting help for mentail illness and suicidal tendencies, understanding the warning signes of suicide in peers, and learning how to take action so that at-risk students are identified and receive the help they need.  ASK-LISTEN-TELL is the cornerstone of HELP and is a simple and easily remembered model that students can employ if they susect a peer is depressed or suicidal.

In 2008, HeartLine’s HELP initiative was recognized on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Suicide Prevention Resource Center Best Practices Registry. The initiative includes a 20-minute video, role playing activities, an interactive story board activity, and the cornerstone of HELP: the Ask-Listen-Tell model. HELP presentations also include a brief evaluation in which students have the opportunity to self identify as being at risk for depression or suicide.

In the summer of 2011, HELP was redesigned and updated to be more interactive and relevant in light of teen bullying and unreported suicidal ideations.  Below is a clip from the updated HELP video shown in every presentation.

For more information on HELP or to learn how to bring the HELP initiative into your school or community, email  Lisa Harper  or call at 405-840-9396 x114.