During graduate school, suicide prevention became a passion of mine. Having had thoughts of committing suicide before (way back when in high school) and then watching as several of the students I worked with struggled with thoughts of suicide and finally getting the text message from someone I care a lot about saying that he was ready to end his life, I decided that I didn’t want to sit back anymore and watch helplessly as the people I cared about (both professionally and personally) had thoughts of feeling alone or outcast or felt as if life in itself had no value and that the only solution was to end life permanently.

The first step I took after making this goal for myself was to become certified as a QPR Gatekeeper for Suicide Prevention. Now, I have decided to take it to the next level by completing additional training and serving as a crisis intervention volunteer online through the IMAlive network. One of the things I would eventually like to do is return to graduate school for a 2nd Master’s degree in Counseling. This is part of reaching that goal.

Wish me luck! (And if you have some extra monies laying around, if all goes well with the interview with the IMAlive team, I’ll be fundraising for the $250 training cost).

~Joshua