The Lancaster County Suicide Prevention Coalition will hold its annual conference on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the DoubleTree Resort located at 2400 Willow Street Pike in Lancaster. The event will include a talk from a keynote speaker, breakout sessions and training resources on topics related to mental health and suicide prevention.

Registration will be available online until Saturday, Aug. 31, and it will include a lunch and snacks. To register, visit https://mhalancaster.org/conference.

This year's keynote speaker is Matt Dorgan, founder and chief executive officer of Building Bridges for Brianna. Dorgan created the organization after the loss of his 15-year-old daughter to suicide in 2020. Building Bridges for Brianna, which is based in York, seeks to prevent suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury throughout local communities and to raise awareness of mental health issues.

Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in various breakout sessions during the conference, and each session will offer information on a specific topic. The sessions will feature discussions on how to use mindfulness to improve student executive functioning, the latest research on suicide prevention and various other mental health-related subjects.

In addition to the keynote address and breakout sessions, the conference will feature Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training. QPR functions as the mental health equivalent of CPR, and it serves as a tool to help identify when someone may be struggling with mental health or suicidal thoughts.

"Coming to this event will equip people with a lot of information, and it's a great opportunity for people who want to become more involved with suicide prevention efforts," said Kim McDevitt, executive director of Mental Health America (MHA) of Lancaster County. "Like our program manager Dave Krahling says, everyone is on the front lines of suicide prevention."

The Lancaster County Suicide Prevention Coalition has hosted the annual conference for several years, and the schedule has been modified this year to feature more breakout sessions and information about suicide prevention strategies. "Our main goal is to bring stakeholders, educators, consumers and other community members together to gain skills and share the goal of preventing suicides," McDevitt said.

MHA of Lancaster County has several initiatives that aim to decrease suicide rates in the area, including an upcoming campaign to raise awareness of gun safety. The organization also has several programs slated for September, which is National Suicide Prevention Month.

For more information, visit https://mhalancaster.org.