Lifeguard Workshop saves lives

Seven Porterville area residents have recently completed a training program offered by The Trevor Project — an organization geared towards preventing suicide attempts among the LGBTQ — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning — community.

The class comes in the aftermath of numerous Tulare County suicides. The graduates can now go into schools, businesses and social clubs with a Lifeguard Workshop presentation on how words do hurt and how they can help.

“There are three key factors we need to get out — Recognizing the signs of potential suicides, how to help, and stats and issues dealing with gay youth as related to suicide,” said John Coffee, one of the seven who completed the course. “The LGBTQ are four times more apt to attempt suicide than their straight peers.”

The workshop offers young people self-defense tools to guard their lives and builds empathy with straight-peers so they can understand the signs of when someone is depressed, Brock Neeley said.

“I hope that the program, as it is implemented in Tulare County, will plant seeds of empathy and help young people and adults better look at the impact of hurtful language on LGBTQ young people,” said Central Valley Coordinator Dave Reynolds. “I hope that the program will create young people who can intervene and help their friends who may be struggling with depression and suicide, and lead to an era when we don’t lose anyone—young or old—to suicide.  It’s preventable with the right resources and training, and that’s what the Lifeguard Workshop is here to do.”

For Coffee and Neeley, Tulare County’s first same-sex married couple, the message is simple.

“Stop killing our young people. Stop the abuse — mental and physical,” Coffee said. “We need to get the word out to everyone.”

Since January, 36 people — including six from the Porterville area, with the youngest being only 11 years of age — have completed suicide. According to data maintained by the Tulare County Coroner’s Department, 12 of the suicides are listed as being motivated by relationship problems, emotional issues or depression.

Terra Bella resident, Jessica Mahoney a recent course graduate and a lesbian, said she can identify with such abuse. A 1997 graduate of Monache High School, Mahoney said she was robbed of several normal high school experiences by insensitive classmates.

“I didn’t go to football games because I was afraid of being in a big crowd. On Friday and Saturday nights, it was not uncommon to have sodas thrown through my car windows,” she said. “I wasn’t out yet but I was different. I wore different clothes. I dyed my hair different colors.”

Mahoney said other students often avoided her.

“I was called names and had things thrown at me,” she said. “Once, I was out with my mom and a man came up to us and spit on her — asking her ‘How can you let her dress that way?’”

Twelve years later, the menacing harassment of high school students who are considered different still exists, Mahoney said.

“It is a bit more accepted but it continues — mostly with words,” Mahoney said. “They don’t realize their actions. They don’t realize what they are doing. That’s why the Trevor Project is really needed — to tell kids they have a resource. They have someone to reach out to. Even if they are not gay, or if they have a friend who is gay, they know where to turn.”

Established in 1989, with headquarters in Los Angeles, the Trevor Project relies on social networking sites and school workshops to reduce the high suicide rates.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’ Not true. Words have power,” Coffee said.

And, young people can no longer escape the bullying by going home after school. The harassment continues on social networks, such as Facebook and by texting, Neeley said.
“It’s a 24/7 thing,” Neeley said. “And unless the young person has a good rapport with parents, there is no safe place to hide.”

Brooke Burk, Jennifer McGuire, Stefanie Asher, and Van VanLandingham also completed the program.

Though no immediate plans are set to offer the workshop to local schools yet, the program has proven successful in cities where it has been offered.

“Educators and school staff truly appreciate that our program both addresses stigma and discrimination towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in schools while also training all young people to recognize the warning signs of suicide in all their peers and respond as lifeguards,” Reynolds said. “Given that there is a clear link between being the victim of anti-LGBTQ harassment, violence and bullying and making a suicide attempt, changing school environments and helping all young people champion suicide prevention is so critical. Regardless of one’s personal or political beliefs, we can all agree that the loss of a child to suicide is a tragedy.”

For more information, call Coffee at 361-5153; Neeley at 302-8107, the Trevor Helpline, 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) or visit www.thetrevorproject.org.

To schedule a workshop, contact Reynolds at Dave.Reynolds@TheTrevorProject.org.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 10454, or eavila@portervillerecorder.com

Suicide Warning Signs
* A tendency toward isolation and social withdrawal
* Increased substance abuse
* Expression of negative attitude toward self
* Expression of helplessness or hopelessness
* Loss of interest in usual sorts of pleasure
* Giving away valued possessions
* Expression of lack of future orientation — “It won’t matter soon anyway.”