High School

Networks for Life: An Educator’s Role in Youth Suicide Prevention is a 3-hour training on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention in the school setting. Designed for use in Washington State, it covers (1) the scope of youth suicide locally; (2) risk and protective factors; (3) school policies, procedures, and crisis response plans; (4) strategies for creating a preventive culture; (5) signs of depression and suicidal thinking in adolescents; (6) a basic 3-step intervention process; (7) local resources; and (8) best practices in postvention and the prevention of suicide contagion. The training emphasizes schools’ important and unique role in youth suicide prevention and gives participants specific, easy-to-use tools. Discussions, brainstorms, practice scenarios, and opportunities to review policies and resources are included.

Networks for Lifeevolved from many years of work in the field by Washington's Youth Suicide Prevention Program staff, including teachers, social workers, and other experts in adolescent development. The educator’s version of this training was created in response to requests for more integration of one-on-one intervention skills with local resource networks and school policies. During the 2012-13 school year, this training was implemented and tested through a series of workshops across the state of Washington and edited based on input from educators representing 83 school districts. Information was drawn from credible sources including the Washington State Department of Health, SAMHSA, and the SPRC/AFSP Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention.

Umatter for Schools Youth Suicide Prevention is a two-day training program that provides school teams with the knowledge and skills to develop comprehensive, asset-based approaches to suicide prevention in their schools. Teams may include teachers, administrators, counselors, and other staff, and are encouraged to bring a representative from a local mental health agency in their area. The program includes gatekeeper training with an emphasis on building assets and protective factors for all youth, developing school protocols, learning to use a student curriculum, and making an action plan to implement suicide prevention strategies in the school community. Umatter also includes a public information campaign with the central message that adults matter because they can act as gatekeepers for youth who are suicidal. The campaign emphasizes that young people who are depressed or suicidal also matter because they are needed by their families, friends, and communities whether they feel that in the moment or not.

Umatter was developed following a review of several school-based suicide prevention programs to determine key concepts. Additional concepts were drawn from the American Association of Suicidology and the academic literature about suicide. The learning activities in Umatter are designed to reach the learning preferences and styles of all participants, and to ensure maximum transfer of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to the workplace.

Creating Suicide Safety in Schools (CSSS) is a one-day workshop designed for school-based interdisciplinary teams, empowering them to establish realistic short-term plans for effective suicide prevention and response planning. Participants spend time planning and problem solving for specific actions needed for suicide-safer schools. The workshop's format includes didactic presentations coupled with small workgroup discussions, checklists, group planning documents, and exposure to free and low-cost resources that meet best practice recommendations and/or evidence-based practice standards. Creating Suicide Safety in Schools incorporates key aspects of the Social-Ecological Prevention Model, public health perspectives, and recommendations for school-based suicide prevention practices (e.g.. Berman, Jobes, & Silverman, 2006; Miller, 2011). Further, the workshop explores six broad categories of school-based suicide safety: (1) policies, procedures, and standardized protocols; (2) staff training; (3) promotion of student protective factors; (4) identification and reduction of student risk factors: (5) postvention planning; and (6) engagement of family and community.

To accompany the workshop, the Suicide Prevention Center of New York developed a resource binder that included public domain materials using two criteria: (1) well-researched and well-aligned with principles of the Best Practices Registry; (2) usable by school personnel for suicide prevention planning. Original material was added to introduce and organize existing materials and to fill in missing information. Evaluations of early workshops guided the refinement of materials in the binder and led to added planning worksheets, checklists, and structured activities.

Journey to Wellness (J2W) is an eight-week wellness program for American Indian youth 12-18 years of age. Participants receive a sequenced set of eight one-hour sessions that are framed positively toward healthy living styles while at the same time exploring risk factors, suicide prevention, and other suicide-related issues. The sessions are activity-oriented and designed to engage youth. Sessions topics include: relationship building, problem solving, self-esteem building, facts and myths of suicide, networking, life planning, emergency planning, and finally, a celebratory event to close out the sessions.J2W is delivered along gender and age group divisions to promote comfort and safety.

J2Wwas developed by BTC Indian Health Servicesstaff. An initial literature review of best practices was conducted. Input was sought from youth in the communities.  The initial program was piloted to female students in two communities. After pilot, focus groups were conducted with the participants. In addition, focus groups were held with male students to review the program and the potential effectiveness with this population. 

The FIRE Within: Youth Entrepreneurs Preventing Suicide is a 30-hour, classroom-based program for high school students that applies entrepreneurial strategies to suicide prevention. Co-curricular instruction (combining the talents of classroom teachers and local business leaders) using a hands-on approach helps students develop and use business, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to advance suicide prevention and awareness.  The FIRE Within is delivered to students using a combination of Junior Achievement’s Be Entrepreneurial and Carson J. Spencer Foundation’s (CJSF) The FIRE Within curricula.  Students learn facts about teen suicide, research and identify the root causes of suicidal ideation among their peers, explore possible prevention strategies, and develop and execute a business plan to prevent suicide within their own community. The program includes a  business plan competition in which students develop sustainable businesses that raise revenue and achieve market-based solutions that address the root causes of suicide in their communities.  Students compete for varying levels of seed money to implement their plans.

From 2006-2009, CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas piloted The FIRE Within at Regis University. In 2009 CJSF started implementation in high schools in partnership with Junior Achievement and the Second Wind Fund. While scaling the program statewide, external evaluators and standardized materials/training ensured quality control. The program’s goals are to promote student-driven suicide prevention (students are trained as QPR Gatekeepers and taught best practices in safe messaging); increase student engagement; and develop socially responsible business leaders.