PFLAG – Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – will provide a prevention suicide session from 6 to 9 p.m., Thursday, June 29, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

The session, titled ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) will be conducted by LivingWorks, a prevention intervention training company that has been involved in suicide prevention for 35 years.

According to LivingWorks, suicide is complex, and so are its solutions. Skills training is one of the most effective prevention approaches. When people think about suicide, they almost always express their pain in ways that invite others to reach out and help. Training empowers someone to recognize these signs and provide life-saving support.

Other facts about suicide according to LivingWorks include the following.
• At any given time, one in 25 people is thinking about suicide to some degree.
• You're much more likely to encounter someone who needs suicide intervention than CPR.
• Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people aged 15-29.
• More than 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide each year

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.