Suicide is a critical issue in Alaska.  On September 7, during Suicide Awareness Week, Alaska Job Corps students attended a powerful forum—the Journey— “Don’t Go It Alone”at the Mat Su College branch of the University of Alaska.

The main speaker was the Executive Director of the Alaska Children’s Trust; Trevor Storrs is a leader in the Alaska Resilience Initiative. He shared statistics from ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) research and tied the results with suicide rates and trauma recovery.  The speaker spoke clearly about community traumas (earthquake or oil spill) which affect large populations.  Then he explained how personal trauma also has an impact individually. He later explained how successful case studies prove that healthy coping skills can be learned.

Later in the day, actual practice involved all  the Job Corps students in practical coping skill training.  All students agreed it was a great opportunity to work with the college and speakers.  And they thought the training was valuable because suicide has affected their families’ and villages’ lives at a very harsh level.

Alaska Job Corps is operated by Chugach Government Solutions as a part of their educational effort to provide training, success and safety to young adults in the National Job Corps program.