By NICOLE WILLIAMS
CASEY and Cardinia residents are being given the tools to deal with grief and help prevent suicide.
Elodie Doty, Gemma Clark and Matthew Doty from The Missing Peace are hosting a Hope for Life course, developed by the Salvation Army, in Hallam this month.
The course focuses on dealing with suicide prevention and bereavement.
“It is the CPR of suicide. It is about how you can see signs and support people if they are suicidal and where to take them, how you personally deal with that and how you keep yourself OK with that,” Ms Doty said.
“If you come across anyone in grief, it helps you understand the process. We all come across people grieving in your life, so it’s a great skill to have.”
The course is open to anyone over the age of 18, and the organisation believes it can help people of all ages.
“Parents, friends, grandparents, anybody,” Ms Clark said.
“Anybody who works with people or comes across people in their lives – which is everybody.”
Ms Clark formed The Missing Peace after losing friends to suicide.
“I came up with the idea after watching my circle lose three friends in three months,” she said.
“I wanted to push to do something and Matt and Elodie came together and developed Missing Peace.”
“We are all about raising awareness of suicide and mental health in youth and think its important parents, friends, grandparents should all have the tools to see and deal with the signs of depression and suicide.”
The organisation hopes to raise awareness about suicide prevention and wants to set up a drop in centre.
“We want the community to know there is a centre they can go to where they can get information and advice they need,” Ms Doty said.
“We will be a place with contacts for the help.”
The Hope for Life course will be held in Hallam on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April.For more information about The Mission Peace, to register for the course or to donate, visit www.themissingpeace.org.au.
