Earlier this year, the 95th Training Division and 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command hosted an ENGAGE T4T (Train the Trainer) and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) update workshop.
ENGAGE training is a true prevention model that emphasizes peer-to-peer engagement at the earliest sign of a deviation from normal behavior or standards. These early engagements provide opportunities to change the trajectory of a fellow Soldier’s behavior from a self-destructive one to a positive one, consistent with Army Values.
The ENGAGE model helps Soldiers and Civilians stay vigilant by recognizing the initial alert from a deviation of standards.
The first step in the ENGAGE process is Awareness, recognizing the initial alert. The next is Responsibility, deciding whether or not to step up and help your fellow Soldier. The last step is figuring out what the Plan is, or how to interact with, and then ENGAGE with, their fellow Soldier.
The three-step process, codified by the abbreviation ARP, form the basis for the ENGAGE model. Following the training, attendees from the 310th ESC and the 95th Training Division’s 3rd Brigade Headquarters and 1-320 Battalion can now teach ENGAGE to their units.
Also at the training event, attendees learned Living Works new Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) version 11.1 material. ASIST equips those Soldiers who have attended training with the Pathways for Assisting Life (PAL) model for suicide intervention, a six-step process used to help people having suicidal ideations.
The 11.1 version incorporates the most recent research and material which Living Works has produced. Attendees who had previously attended the five-day ASIST Trainer course are now qualified to teach the newest version of ASIST to their fellow Soldiers.
Anyone having an interest in learning suicide intervention techniques or in joining the 108th TC Suicide Prevention Team should contact your Division’s Suicide Prevention Program Manager.