For the past 4 years, sharing the spiritual perspective of “Think 3-2-1” and “The BE KIND Model” with the church and faith based communities has been my highest priority.  As God gives opportunity, God has been gracious to show how to blend scriptural wisdom with proven practices to help anyone to become an effective crisis interventionist.  What if we normalized our conversations concerning mental health illness, disorders, and suicide?  Often our conversation is very awkward to those who are expressing mental illness. Instead of active listening, there is often judgment on the topic. These topics negatively impact a very volatile organ called our brain. Brain illness just like any illness from any part of our body or organ should be viewed with empathy. What if we showed compassion and kindness to those suffering from the mind as we do those who are being treated for cancer, or have diabetes, or under medication due to a physical illness? 

As a chaplain for disasters, both manmade and natural, I have seen how devastation can negatively impact the mind.  As I continued my research on the topic of suicide and mental health illness/disorder, I considered key questions. Here are a few key questions I asked during my research: What if training had relevant and realistic approaches that can be applied, like the Think 3-2-1? What if we took “The BE KIND Model” to become more effective in helping someone to the next level of safety? What if we had some scenario-based learning, role play or discussion groups to help someone become a crisis interventionist? Crisis is something everyone has experienced and if suicide is the most extreme form of a crisis, why not specifically address the most detrimental and damaging crisis? What if you are the front line defense to de-escalate this extreme form of crisis? Would it save someone’s life or even yours?  My goal is to take a very simple principle of kindness that is understood by everyone, young, old, professional, poor, rich, able, disabled, those with faith, and those with a worldview and introduce how Think 3-2-1 strategy and the BE KIND model can help someone in a crisis. What I discovered is the Think 3-2-1 strategy can apply at any level of crisis with the help of the Holy Spirit.

—Dr. Gaviola-Feck