Train: Creating Standardized Expectations
Training should focus on the unique needs and qualities of a given care setting and the clinical team members receiving the training. Focused training on suicide prevention can help elevate this work as a priority for staff and ensure competence pertaining to suicide risk and management. A first step is developing a training plan which includes goals of training, target audience, and logistics like time, space, and modality. Training can be universal offering basic knowledge around suicide prevalence, ways to identify risk, and intervention strategies. Additional focused training is important for care providers who are engaging youth and families with suicide risk.
Training Types
Universal Training
Universal training can include QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer), Mental Health First Aid, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). These trainings identify warning signs, provide guidance on engagement, and steps to refer someone for more help. These trainings can be geared toward clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers.
- QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer): QPR Institute | Practical and Proven Suicide Prevention Training QPR Institute (en-US)
- Mental Health First Aid: Mental Health First Aid
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST): Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) | SAMHSA
Focused Training
More tailored and focused training is important for clinicians and providers who evaluate youth identified at risk. These trainings include Assessing and Managing Risk (AMSR), Cognitive Behavior Therapy Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP), and Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS). Additional trainings like Counseling and Access to Lethal Means can be integrated into a suicide prevention training strategy to augment training with a focus on specific skills, such as lethal means restriction counseling.
A first step can also be conducting a training needs assessment to supplement the Workforce Survey and identify priorities and gaps.
- Assessing and Managing Risk (AMSR): AMSR Training | Solutions.edc.org
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP): Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP): Treatment Model, Feasibility and Acceptability - PMC
- Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)
- Counseling and Access to Lethal Means (CALM): Counseling on Access to Lethal Means | Zero Suicide
More Resources
Suicide prevention training: self-perceived competence among primary healthcare professionals
Solin P, Tamminen N, Partonen T, Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 2021, 39:3, 332-338.
DOI: 10.1080/02813432.2021.1958462
Developing and Piloting Suicide Prevention Training in Pediatric Primary Care
Parkhurst, JT, Hilliard M., Hubbell DE, Spencer AE, Hoffmann, JA, Martinez-Charleston E, Janssen A. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2024, 3(3).
- Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) Training
- Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)SPRC Choosing a Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training Program – A Comparison Table
- Zero Suicide Care Training Options
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Trainings and Trainers
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Talk Saves Lives
- Suicide Prevention with Child Welfare Involved Youth Online Course
- Indian Health Service Suicide Prevention Models, Trainings, and Best and Promising Practices
