As part of the cooperation between the Vinnytsia State Center for Aesthetic Education of Vocational School Students and the Training and Methodological Center of the Psychological Service of the Vinnytsia Oblast Education System, an online training “Suicide Prevention among VET Students” was held on January 22, 2025. It was attended by about 60 participants from 23 vocational education institutions in our region.
Thanks to the regional trainer, practical psychologist of the NMC of Psychological Service of Vinnytsia Oblast Education System Anastasia Nagibina, the training participants expanded their knowledge of suicide as a phenomenon, learned to identify behavioral markers that signal the presence of suicidal intentions, protective factors, i.e. circumstances that reduce the likelihood of suicide, and mastered the algorithm of talking to a person at risk of suicide. In addition, they discussed common myths and facts about suicide, and playing out situational tasks helped to clearly work out the algorithm of actions of a gatekeeper (an assistant who provides first psychological aid to a person in a suicidal crisis), taught them to distinguish between risk factors and warning signs of suicidal manifestations.
It is very important to discuss the issue of prevention aimed at preventing undesirable consequences, because every year in Ukraine, suicide causes the death of about 8,000 people.
Many suicides can be prevented by recognizing threatening thoughts in a person in time and providing them with help. And each of us can do it.
