School Personnel Suicide Prevention Training: Best and Promising Practices Followed by a Kidslink Overview

Youth and young adult deaths from suicide have been increasing in the United States over the past two decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for those between the ages of 10 and 24 from 2011 to 2021 the death by suicide rate rose sixty percent (60%) to 11.0 per 100,000. Paralleling these highly troubling rates of death by suicide is information from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary and Trends Report: 2011-2021. The report reinforces a picture of our nation’s youth in serious mental health crisis.

There is a growing consensus that school personnel have an important role in fostering student mental wellbeing in general and in youth suicide prevention in specific. Almost all states (39) plus Washington DC legislate or recommend suicide prevention training for school personnel.  

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminstration (SAMHSA) supported Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) recommends a three-prong approach to suicide prevention education. In addition to educating families and the community about the risk factors and warning signs for suicide and how to respond appropriately, SPRC recommends training school personnel to recognize and respond to suicide risk and to establish suicide screening and referral programs.

There is no doubt that educating school personnel is a, if not the, key component of successful school-based suicide prevention. This workshop will provide an overview of best and promising practices and available research toward accomplishing this goal.

Education programs for school personnel (teachers, administrators, teacher assistants, school nurses, custodial staff, food service workers, bus drivers, and other support staff) can be taught in person, remotely via synchronous instruction, remotely via self-paced online modules, or using a hybrid model. The presenters will share their experiences and informed preferences for instructional methods and explore underlying drivers for their recommendations.

The workshop will then explore the key elements of a well-constructed suicide prevention curricula for training all school personnel and specialized training for school behavioral health professionals. Considerations such as manualized options for education, suicide screening & clinical suicide assessment, cost, length of training & method of instruction will be discussed. Although still in its infancy, research assessing the efficacy of such programs will be presented.

Drawing from experiences gained through leveraged partnerships with school districts throughout Rhode Island, the presenters will discuss the combination of an education program and a suicide screening instrument as a best practice. After reviewing suicide prevention education program options, the presenters will turn attention to the selection of a suicide screening instrument. The Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) Screen Version, the presenters preferred instrument, will be presented in some detail including screener construction, language availability, uses, implementation, efficacy, and supportive research with pediatric as well as adult populations. Funding and sustainability of these programs will be discussed.

Speakers

Kimberly Lafountain, LMHC, has over 21 years’ experience in the field of behavioral health. She holds a Master of Education in guidance and counseling from Providence College and a Bachelor of Science in health and physical education from the University of Maine. Lafountain is currently employed as a behavioral education development specialist in the Department of Behavioral Education at Bradley Hospital. She works as part of a team that develops and provides competency-based education, evidence-based practices and continuing education and training programs within Lifespan, regionally and nationally. Previously, she worked as a clinician in a community-based program designed to keep children and adolescents in home placement. The majority of her career was spent providing outpatient counseling, specializing in sexual abuse specific treatment and juvenile offender treatment. Prior to joining the Department of Behavioral Education, Lafountain was a trainer for Gateway Healthcare.  

Donald Laliberte, LICSW, is assistant director of Lifespan Pediatric Behavioral Health Emergency Services and director of access at Bradley Hospital. In this position, he oversees the Access Center at Bradley and the Kids’Link Call Center. He has extensive experience in behavioral health with children, adolescents, and adults, both in direct service and program administration. He is an adjunct professor of social work at Rhode Island College and a certified mental health First-Aid instructor.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Examine the key elements of a well-constructed suicide prevention curricula for both non-behavioral health school personnel and behavioral health professionals.
• Examine how the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale Screen Version is being utilized as the preferred instrument in school settings.
• Discuss the sustainability of a school-based suicide prevention training program.

Details

The target audience for this presentation is psychologists, physicians, social workers and other interested health care professionals.

This presentation has been approved for 1.5 CE hours/credits (see below).

Registration

This presentation is free of charge.

Online registration closes on Wednesday, November 13.

For refund/cancellation information, please email [email protected] or call Mayra Colon at 401-606-5753.

Register online

Credit Details

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Rhode Island Hospital and Bradley Hospital. Rhode Island Hospital is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education.  
 
Rhode Island Hospital designates this activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Rhode Island Hospital is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Rhode Island Hospital maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

CEUs for this event have been submitted, pending approval by the National Board for Social Work (NASW), designating this activity for a maximum of 1.50 continuing education credits for certified counselors, marriage, and family therapists.

Bradley Conference is designed to provide education for psychologists, social workers, physicians, nurses, certified counselors, speech/language and occupational therapists, teachers, milieu associates, and other professionals who work with children, adolescents, or adults. Topics address different behavioral health populations and treatment modalities and are intended to provide practical, state-of-the-art information.

Bradley Hospital’s clinical expertise, internationally renowned research, and academic affiliation with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University make the hospital a unique resource in all areas of behavioral health care. We have designed a wide range of learning experiences to provide the training that behavioral health care professionals need to stay at the forefront of their fields.

There is no known commercial support for this program.