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What Hope Have We?
A Theological Reflection on the ASIST Course
Christopher Button
Introduction
The Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) course has been
running for thirty years in over 11 different versions. It focuses on training
individuals to carry out ‘on-the-spot’ interventions for people who are at
risk of carrying out suicide. It is taught over a two-day course and is
designed to be able to be learnt and carried out by ‘ordinary’ people on the
street rather than simply by professionals. It works on the assumption that
suicide is a problem for the whole community and so it is down to the whole
community to address this problem by forming ‘suicide-safer communities’.
ASIST works by giving people the confidence to ask the question about
whether someone is thinking about suicide, by empowering them with the
tools to quickly build relationships in order to identify ‘life connections’
which in turn lead to finding ‘turning points’. In summary ASIST works by
finding things in a person’s life that they can be hopeful about then
supporting them to make the decision to ‘stay safe for now’.
The Salvation Army has been providing ASIST through its School for In-
Service Training and Development (SISTAD) as a centrally-taught course. It
has been identified as a necessary course for employees from The Salvation
Army’s Homelessness Services to undertake as part of their training
requirements. It has similarly been identified as being very important for
those working in a Salvation Army Corps (local church) expression.
The question arises as to what extent ASIST can be understood through a
theological medium, so as to fully integrate it within the mission mandates
of The Salvation Army (TSA). It is my intention that by the end of this paper
I will have provided a brief overview of how a theological reflection on
ASIST can provide an integrated and missional understanding of ASIST.
In order to do this I will be focusing on three key areas which come from
the ASIST framework: Assumption of Life, Identifying Life Connections, and
Turning Points. In each area I will highlight the ASIST process and then
reflect on how our theological understanding can both deepen and underpin
how they work.

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The Assumption of Life
A core assumption of ASIST is if someone is willing to talk about suicide,
then it means they are not yet fully decided to actually carry out suicide.
This is referred to as an ‘invitation’. A person being willing to discuss their
thoughts or plans for suicide is inviting you to speak to them about it – the
assumption is that in that case the person is not yet decided on death; there
is an assumption of a draw towards life.
Whilst within ASIST there is a general focus on the importance of choice
within the process and on the centrality of respect, there is also the focus
on life. During the training potential interventionists are asked to record
their own personal attitudes towards suicide including whether people think
it is right or wrong, and whether they think people have a right to die. It is
emphasised that the learner should be aware that their attitudes will affect
the way they provide ASIST and that therefore they should be self-aware. It
is also highlighted that there is a need for a non-judgemental attitude.
Alongside this sits the assumption that it is better to be alive than to be
dead, and that the right thing to do is to seek to promote life. This is taken
to the extent that when a person may be about to carry out suicide then the
learner is told that the priority is keeping them safe and to seek an
emergency response. This does imply that there exists within ASIST the
belief that suicide is wrong. If there was a situation where suicide is right,
then if ASIST is designed to promote life through identifying hope, would it
then be required to support death?
Within ASIST this is not directly addressed and instead the learner is
taught to seek safety for the person in the immediate present. The ASIST
structure is not intended for long term use although it is understood that it
might need to be repeated several times. Rather it is a short action
intervention designed to keep a person ‘safe for now’ especially if they are
about to kill themselves. The question is not asked whether it would ever be
right to let them do so, rather the unwritten assumption is that life is better
than death and it is the duty of the ASIST intervention to prevent suicide
where possible.
This then leads us to a point of theological reflection on this unwritten
assumption and how it relates to the question of hope in death. Within
Christianity the belief is that each human person is made in the image of
God. Each person is unique, a completely unrepeatable occurrence that has

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never existed before in the universe and can never be replicated or copied.
Therefore each person is of absolute infinite worth. A person is beyond
value because they cannot be replaced nor can they be bought, they cannot
be turned into a number nor can they be reduced into a collection of facts.
To be a person is to exist always just beyond our ability to grasp and
define, to be irreducible to any formula or expression. Our personhood
exists in the ineffable mystery of our self which constantly moves beyond
our grasp. Each time we attempt to assess who we are, by simply asking
that question we affect and change our very existence until we must
recognise that we are constantly existing as a question to be examined but
never fully answered. This is at least in part because we do not exist and
are not complete as an independent unit.
As human persons we exist as contingent beings. We did not cause
ourselves to exist nor did we have a choice in our existence. In that regard
our existence is completely dependent on someone other than us. At a
further level our own self-understanding as being a subject, an ‘I’ is both
made possible and explainable through recognising others as also being
subjects, not simply objects for our study. As has already been noted, we
cannot reduce a person or contain them within our study and in that regard
a person can never be an object but must in some regards always remain a
subject to be experienced and participated in rather than an object to be
studied or possessed.
It has been noted that it is important that we cannot see the back of our
own head but require external assistance. In the same way we need the
assistance of those around us if we are to come to know who we are – our
own self-knowledge is dependent upon our capacity for empathy. The same
is therefore true for the other person who we perceive. We exist within
their life and they exist within ours. Without the other person we are not
complete and without us they are not themselves complete.
This is taken to a further expression in the regard that God has for us.
Before we were known or perceived by anybody else, we were known and
loved by God. God chose to enter into a loving relationship by choosing to
be attentive to us, to regard us, to have us exist within his life. We are
known by God before we are known by any other person and so the
grounding of our existence as a person is in our relationship with God and so
always beyond the reach of any other person.

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This is deepened by understanding our existence to be as the image of
God. This requires a deeper understanding of what it means to be an
‘image’ of God within the created order than there is space here. In short,
to be in the image of God is to reflect God into the world and to reflect the
world back to God. We become a place where God is made present in the
world through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus each human person
that exists has the potential to become a dwelling place of God.
This potential for fulfilling the image of God as dwelling place of God
combined with the absolute unique nature of what it means to be a human
person come together to form a much abused phrase, the sacredness of life.
Life is sacred because it is a gift, we do not choose to exist but have our
existence by gift. Because a person cannot be reduced to a formula, is not
able to be grasped or defined, that person is always beyond our ability to
own or control. The same is true for our own life. We do not fully belong to
ourselves – our life is not our own – because we do not live it on our own.
The underlying assumption of life within ASIST is met by the belief in the
sacredness of human personhood. In each case it is not expected nor is it
permitted for the beliefs of one person to be imposed on another. It is
impossible to force belief. But those beliefs will underpin the reasons why a
process is carried out and why we would seek to prevent suicide.
Death is the ultimate blasphemy because it is the destruction of the
image of God on Earth. Death is not a release, it is an enemy to be fought
against and ASIST provides the tools to do so.
Identifying Life Connections
In a single sentence, a life connection can be summarised as hope.
In the ASIST process, after an invitation has been made the person
carrying out the intervention then seeks to identify a connection to life that
the person has. This is found out by asking the person to tell you their story
in order to identify key areas or people that are important to them, or
which seem to continue to connect them to life. These connections can be a
source of hope for the person which can then be used as a way to get them
to commit to staying ‘safe for now’.

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In this regard, a life connection could be anything from family members
to a hobby that the person enjoys. It something that makes life meaningful
or makes the person feel that there is something that is holding them to
life. It could be strong or weak, but the assumption of life holds that there
is something in each person which means they do not really want to die.
The person carrying out the intervention is there to support the person
to identify points of hope within their life. Things that make them want to
stay alive. The power of stories is dominant here and is something that will
be seen again in the next section. The stories that we tell about our own
lives are very often not only self-defining but also self-constructive. We are
(or at least can appear to be) the stories that we tell about ourselves.
The stories that a person will tell when asked why they are feeling like
killing themselves are often very revealing, not only about why they feel
like they want to die but also about why they want to live. In ASIST it is said
that people often feel that they only have two choices, to live or to die.
ASIST provides a third option – to stay safe for now. It doesn’t take away the
other two choices but provides a short term alternative based on hope, or
the potential for hope, to allow that decision to be made later. In doing so
the ASIST practitioner is highlighting potential hope – but it must be hope
for that person and that comes from that person, not subjectively imposed
upon them.
However, all hope within this world that comes from this world is
fleeting. As has been previously stated, death is the enemy of life. It is not
a welcome release from the pain of this world but an unnatural occurrence
that is a disruption of the good creation. Hope in the face of unrelenting
entropy and decay, of pain and suffering and despair, can quickly fade into
nothingness when it is built of the same stuff of the world.
What hope can Christianity provide in the face of the pain and suffering
of the world? The traditional response has been to attempt to justify why
such things exist, to somehow exonerate God without paying attention to
the person who is suffering. Alternatively it ends up in the position of
attempting to identity suffering with some kind of tool for teaching and self-
discovery.
In the face of a cold and indifferent world with death as the only
certainty, and pain as the only reality, what can Christianity offer? It offers

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hope that is not based on the world but nor is it free from the world.
Christianity, common to popular belief, is not about going to some abstract
and spiritual heaven as if this somehow will make everything well. That is
not the defeat of death which is promised by the cross but is rather a
capitulation to death seeing it as some silent friend that takes away from
this life into the better life to come.
Again, death is not our friend but is the enemy to be fought against. The
answer is the physical resurrection of Jesus which points towards our own
physical resurrections and the redemption of this world through the restored
new creation. Not a new creation ex nihilo but rather a creation ex vetere.
This is the destruction of death by undoing what it has done. This is true
hope because it is hope that this world is not yet done with but can be and
will be restored.
Christianity is able to point towards a hope for all people in all times and
places that is dependent not upon their own power or will but is in effect at
its strongest when they are at their weakest. The desperate cry into the
darkened void from the child screaming for their parent to save them is
answered in the eternal and mystifying grace of the God who suffered and
died for his own creation.
The Christian hope finds it foundation in grace, completely unmerited
love that accepts and restores. It is understood within the framework of
eschatology, but most especially within inaugurated eschatology. This is
because the hope of Christianity is not for some far off day but is for the
present world. Through the faithful living and gracious action of those who
live indwelled by the Spirit, the future kingdom of the new creation is made
manifest in the present in the presence of the Spirit.
Every time a Christian acts with love and compassion, shows mercy and
seeks to restore life to its fullest then God is present in that encounter and
heaven and earth are combined together in anticipation of that future. Our
hope is in the pneumatalogically inaugurated eschatological the-en-panism
which is embodied in the compassionate act.
Our Christian understanding of the importance of hope is essential to
how we can carry out ASIST interventions and how we teach the programme.
It looks towards ways in which Christianity can provide a hope that cannot
be matched by the world and instead goes beyond the decay of our

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assumptions and aspirations. The assumption of life leads to hope and where
hope is found then there life is preserved and protected. The Christian hope
is for a life that is restored and made new and that can be started and
experienced in the present time along with an assurance for our own
personal future.
Turning Points
In ASIST a turning point is what takes place once a life connection has
been made. It is the opportunity to bring the person to a decision to be
‘safe for now’. The person carrying out the intervention does not create a
turning point but instead helps to identify what turning points might already
be present in that person’s life and then to create an environment where it
is possible for them to be followed up on.
As stated before, turning points stem from the self-defining stories told
during the process of identifying life connections. Turning points and the
decision to turn towards the decision to stay safe for now cane come about
through a variety of pathways. These include the person rejecting suicide
completely and deciding instead to choose life. They could find a hope for
the future that will keep them safe in the meantime until they have a
chance to make a decision further along the line. Or they could not be able
to temporarily identify any apparent hope but recognise that there is some
uncertainty about the decision and thus are prepared to stay safe for now
until they can be certain about the decision they are about to make.
In order to support this turn towards safety the ASIST practitioner works
within the safety framework of ‘Safety First’, ‘Safety Guards’ and ‘Safety
Aids’.
In Safety First the ASIST worker identifies any immediate danger or
possibility of suicide that has already taken place or is about to take place
and cannot be stopped. At this stage the underlying assumption of life takes
precedence and can be clearly seen as the prescribed response is to make
the person safe by contacting the emergency services. The immediate
response is to seek the safety of the person in order to protect their life.
In the Safety Guards section the ASIST practitioner identifies activities or
issues in a person’s life that might place their safety at risk and seeks to
guard against them. This could be by identifying the plan by which suicide
was to be attempted and then seeking to stop, reduce, or mitigate this

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plan. This could be by destroying drugs or by getting someone to take away
their car keys for instance. It could also draw on any pre-existing survival
strategies from previous interventions or from ongoing treatment for mental
ill-health.
The Safety Aids section seeks to help identify changeable situations in a
person’s life that can aid or increase safety. This could be talking to a
friend, going to a GP or by attending a help group. It is all about finding
situations in a person’s life and then identifying what could be easily
changed to mitigate the potential risk and help promote safety.
The safety framework is however dependent on finding that turning point
and on gaining the willingness of the person to make the decision to stay
safe for now.
We have already seen the role that stories play in this process for the
identification of life connections and thus the presentation of turning
points. The process of making the decision to stay sage can be seen as
integrating a new narrative in place of the old narrative of a person’s life.
Where once the self-defining story was one of hopelessness, the new story
that they are then able to say about them has something within it which
gives them hope.
The Christian hope helps to form a new worldview or participatory
narrative into which the person can identify themselves. The Christian
worldview provides a counter-narrative that is effective against feelings of
hopelessness or of helplessness. It can destroy feelings of loneliness or
worthlessness and can provide hope that goes beyond the baseless or
decaying hope that is often found in the world.
The turning point can be seen as a moment of Kairos time when the
Spirit is at work in a person’s life through the movement in the relationship
between the person at risk and the ASIST practitioner. By seeking to build
that relationship and then to intently listen to the story of the other person,
the practitioner enters into that story. They participate in the life of the
person they are attempting to help. And in so doing they form a place where
the Spirit of God is at work.
The practitioner of ASIST is not seeking to create a turning point but to
identify one and make it relevant to the context of the person they are

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working with. In that moment of Kairos time there comes a moment when
the Spirit can reveal what that turning point might be, in part at least
because of the intimacy of that connection built through that relationship.
As was stated previously, it is in that connection between people that our
own personhood is affirmed as is the personhood of the other.
The theological turn towards identifying a turning point and working
through it to promote life and lead to safety builds upon the foundation of
ASIST but provides it with a richness and a depth which it could otherwise
be lacking. It is built up on the Christian concept of hope and of the
importance of the person.
Conclusion
The ASIST framework provides an effective tool for building suicide safer
communities and for supporting life. It enables people from every walk of
life to be equipped to intervene in an emergency situation where a person
might be about to carry out suicide. It points towards the importance of
hope and the assumption that life is better than death.
A theological perspective enables ASIST to be understood within the
missional context of TSA. It fits into the belief that life is unique and
sacred, to be preserved and to be lived to its fullest due to the human
person as the image of God. It provides a greater and deeper hope in the
face of the suffering of life and can be an effective counter-narrative in the
life of people who feel that their own story could never have a happy
ending.
Ultimately a theological reflection on ASIST supports the continued
investment in providing the ASIST course for The Salvation Army as an
effective part of its mission. It enables us to see ASIST as more than a tool
or technique to be carried out but as a process of spiritual discernment that
can make God present in those relationships that are formed. In that sense,
ASIST becomes a deeply incarnational form of ministry, bringing the
presence of God directly to those people most in need of hope that comes
from seeing Him working through the person who comes to them in their
darkest times through the light of the embodied compassionate act.