High School

Plan, Prepare, Prevent: The SOS Signs of Suicide^® Online Gatekeeper Training is the training module of the larger SOS Signs of Suicide Prevention Program (listed in Section I of the BPR). It can also be used independently of the SOS Program. The intended audience for this course is middle and high school staff members, or staff at other organizations looking to deepen their understanding of youth mental health and considering implementing an evidence-based prevention program. The module provides contextual information about mental illness, suicide, and risk and protective factors, and teaches participants to recognize and respond to the warning signs of depression and suicide. The course takes approximately 90 minutes to complete, and has videos and interactive quizzes throughout the three sections. The course offers contact hours for licensure for school nurses, social workers, psychologists, and counselors. It also offers a Certificate of Completion for anyone who finishes the course.

Screening for Mental Health® (SMH) developed the SOS Program in 2001. To create the online course, SMH staff worked with the Tufts University School of Medicine’s Health Care Institute. A cross-disciplinary team piloted the module, providing feedback prior to launching the online course.

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.