Dr. Richard Keller wrote a letter ~

Thank you Dr. Keller ~

“Many adults and youth are likely to encounter a suicidal person at some point in their professional or personal lives, but lack the skills, comfort level, and training to recognize warning signs or respond effectively…a community-wide cadre of trained “gatekeepers” may make a difference.”

A recent attempt to help develop a “cadre of trained “gatekeepers”” in Lake County middle and high schools met with minimal success. The Lake County Suicide Prevention Task Force will continue to push for that with materials developed locally by Dr John Jochem. We will be working with the Regional Office of Education Superintendent’s Office into the next school year in another attempt to get the material to school personnel at all levels.

However, to attempt to reach a tipping point sooner and to offer it to even more individuals who regularly interact with youths who might be suicidal I am sending the links to the material for your review and consideration. These materials are available on the Lake County Coroner website.

Letter to school administrators

Project Safety NET


Feel free to use the materials for education in your organizations, communities of faith, etc and feel free to disseminate them to others who might be interested.

Richard L Keller, MD
Lake County Coroner
Lake County Suicide Prevention Task Force

Blog Post from Dr. Richard Keller ~

Something I found interesting ~

Social Smarts ~

Today's children are just not coming into school -- into life -- equipped with adequate social skills and character development that helps them understand that this kind of behavior is simply not OK. They are not taught to respect and value differences among people, in opinions, in actions…
People may argue that social skills education belongs in the home, not in the schools, and I'd be the first to agree. But, our schools have become a war zone, where teachers spend more time disciplining students and trying to keep order than they do teaching! Is it any wonder our schools under-perform? If you were losing 20/30/50% of your average educational time because of behavior issues, how effective do you think you could be?

The “Social Smarts” program emphasizes:
… thinking "beyond oneself"
… kindness and consideration in all dealings with others
… behavior must not only be taught, but also must be practiced and reinforced by example in the family, in schools, and in the child's everyday world.
Rather than dismiss manners and etiquette as old-fashioned, fussy, and irrelevant… we need to return to a more civilized period of behavior, where people are responsible and accountable for their words and actions.

Although the world can be a rough place in which to live, and we cannot always change what others say and do, we can change how we act and speak, and hope that by "keeping our own houses clean" we can serve as positive examples in our homes, our communities, and in the world at large.


(Dr, Keller adds~)

Couldn’t we all use a refresher in proper social skills and frequent reminders of proper manners and proper action?

Teaching these skills and principles in our schools and working with parents to help them reinforce the lessons and working with society (including the media in all its forms) to highlight good examples that will likewise reinforce manners and “good” behavior can help reclaim our future and our future generations. It can improve our society, decrease violence and all its terrible consequences (yes, including death).

[Although I do believe we need a non-proprietary, inexpensive program that is easy to disseminate to all, because all are in need.]

I believe we need to teach our children ~ our children are not invincible ~

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I was going to write a poem, but need to get the gas tank filled as I am sure the price's will of gasoline will be up for MORE SO for the holiday weekend ~

This was one of Jon's biggest weekends, always hated it too - as he had to stay at the pool to qualify to become a lifeguard for summer - he said it so like boring ~ having to look at all those hottie girls in their racer backs~ roflmao ` Especially - Dee & Cher ~