BEAR4LIFE is a project of Chaplainy Solutions, a non-profit corporation that provides various types of chaplaincy services with public safety, corporations and community members.
BEAR4LIFE was birthed out of the tragic death of Keylo Halbert and the rise of teen suicides. Keylo’s family and Chaplaincy Solutions determined the need for a program that assists and empowers teens to help mitigate teen suicides. As in the public safety arena, where police officers or firefighters are peers for other police officers and firefighters, the concept of teen peer support for teen suicides was born.
The goal is to assist teens to be peers to other teens that are contemplating suicide. Using the TOOL4LIFE, teens will have four defined steps to follow, based on the acronym BEAR. These steps will give them the ability to provide support to a teen that is contemplating suicide as a solution for life’s challenges. The teens are not being asked to solve the issues but to identify those in need of assistance and to get them to a place of safety by responding to the need and referring them to a competent source of help.