Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR)

QPR Gatekeeper Training is an evidence-based suicide prevention program from the QPR Institute

View, download, and/or print the QPR report

2024 QPR Impact report

QPR Trains Participants to:

  • Identify risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behavior
  • Identify warning signs of suicide
  • Get help for someone who may be in crisis

Why QPR is needed in Montana:

For over 30 years Montana has ranked among the top five states in suicide mortality rates in the U.S. There were 329 suicides in Montana in 2022.*
That same year, among Montanan youth ages 11-17, the suicide mortality rate was more than triple the national average1 The suicide mortality rate in the farming, fishing, forestry occupational group is substantially higher than the national average**

QPR Instructor Certification & Gatekeeper Trainings in Montana

Under a small grant from the Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP), nine MSU Extension agents and two MSU campus faculty completed QPR instructor certification training in 2022. Two additional instructors became certified in 2023 with funding from other sources.

MSU Extension instructors have provided QPR training to 221 participants in 24 trainings across nine Montana counties.

Audiences reached with these trainings include: farmers, ranchers, and agriculture-adjacent professionals, high school seniors, K-12 teachers, administrators, and other school staff, faith communities, volunteer EMTs, patients at the Montana Chemical Dependency Center

For more information on this and other mental health programming available through MSU Extension, please visit montana.edu/extension/health/mental_health and/or contact Dr. Alison Brennan, [email protected]

 

* Rosston, K. (2024) Suicide in Montana: Facts, Figures, and Formulas for Prevention. Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services.
https://dphhs.mt.gov/assets/suicideprevention/SuicideinMontana092324.pdf
* Arif, A., Adeyemi, O., Laditka, S., Laditka, J., & Borders, T. (2021). Suicide mortality rates in farm-related occupations and the agriculture industry in the United States. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 64(11), 960 – 968. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23287