F.E.W.E.R. Colorado is a community safety training developed with and for rural communities. Many existing trainings are long and more clinically focused—this training is intentionally kept brief and designed for the general public who often do not have any background or experience dealing with a mental health crisis.
The training is 1.5 hours long and includes information on how to:
1) identify a mental health crisis
2) intervene and communicate with someone who might be having thoughts of suicide
3) create a safety plan and secure their environment.
The goal of this training is to reduce the incidence of suicide in rural communities, particularly for men in agriculture by teaching folks that it is ok to ask about mental health and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health needs.
CORRECTION: The original story stated that F.E.W.E.R Colorado trainings included QPR training, however, Lindstadt says F.E.W.E.R is its own specialized training and instructors are not certified in QPR training as suggested in the story. KVNF apologizes for the error.
