Five LPSO employees, including Chief Deputy Jimmy Arbogast and Detectives, were recently certified in ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) to better understand the needs of a person with suicidal thoughts, and to be able to use suicide first aid.

Thanks to Andy and Angie Dixon with Save Cenla for presenting two interactive workshops in Jena, LA. The Dixons are Gold ASIST trainers, who founded Save Cenla in 2017, and have trained over 2000 workshop participants. Their mission statement is to break the mental illness stigma and equate it with all all other life threatening illnesses so that people are not afraid to seek help. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety.

More workshops have been scheduled in both Olla and Jena. Visit www.savecenla.come for more information.