Suicide Prevention Models, Trainings, and Best and Promising Practices
The following models, trainings, best and/or promising practices are examples of options that potential SASP grant applicants may consider when completing a grant application for the 2022 funding cycle. Please note that the following models and trainings are examples only. Potential applicants are not required to utilize only these options and may decide to use another model, training, best or promising practice that fits their Tribal community needs.
NOTE: IHS does not endorse any one model or training listed here, nor is this an endorsement by IHS. The models and trainings listed here are for informational purposes only for the SASP grant application process.
SUICIDE PREVENTION MODELS AND GATEKEEPER TRAININGS – GENERAL POPULATION AND FACILITY STAFF
Model/Training: Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR)
Organization: Zero Suicide Institute
Description/Purpose:
Informed by the latest research, Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) for Direct Care Staff is a half-day training that that develops skills in the recognition, assessment, and management of suicide risk and the delivery of effective suicide-specific interventions.
- Teaching and skills-building methods include video demonstrations, group discussion, written and paired practice, case review, and expert teaching.
- Offers two curricula for direct care staff:
- AMSR for Direct Care Staff Working in Outpatient Health and Behavioral Health Care Settings and,
- AMSR for Direct Care Staff Working in Inpatient Behavioral Health Care Settings.
Population: AI/AN men and women, youth (ages 13-21).
For more information, visit the Zero Suicide Institute website.
Model/Training: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
Organization: Living Works
Description/Purpose:
- Workshop teaches the warning signs of suicide, how to help individuals at risk for suicide stay safe in the moment, respond, and seek further help as needed;
- A standardized training customizable to local resources.
Population: Community members; Persons 16 or older
For more information, visit the Living Works website.
Model/Training: ASK About Suicide to Save a Life
Organization: ASK About Suicide to Save a Life
Description/Purpose:
- Understand suicide and suicidal behavior;
- Identify the risk and protective factors and warning signs;
- Apply basic suicide prevention skills (ask about suicide, know where and how to refer a person for help).
Population: General, Adult
For more information, visit the Texas Suicide Prevention website.
Model/Training: Connect Suicide Prevention/Intervention Training
Organization: National Alliance on Mental Illness: New Hampshire
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches warning signs and interventions with a person at risk for suicide;
- Examines prevention and intervention in the context of an individual, family, community, tribe (if applicable), and society; and
- Applies a public health approach, including the socio-ecological model.
Population: Community members and professionals (training is offered by audience including American Indian/Alaska Native, Education, Law Enforcement, Military, Mental Health/Substance Abuse, Social Services, Suicide Prevention Coalitions, and Youth)
For more information, visit the Connect Suicide Prevention/Intervention Training website.
Model/Training: Connect Postvention Training
Organization: National Alliance on Mental Illness: New Hampshire
Description/Purpose:
- Training on how to coordinate a comprehensive and safe response to suicide death including strategies for reducing the risk of contagion; and
- Optional second day for development of postvention response plan.
Population: Community members and professionals.
For more information, visit the Connect Suicide Prevention/Intervention Training website.
Model/Training: Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR): Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention
Organization: QPR Institute
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches the warnings signs of individuals at risk for suicide, how to recognize them, offer hope, and get help.
Population: Geared towards gatekeepers, including community members.
For more information, visit the QPR Institute website.
Model/Training: Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR): Suicide Triage Training
Organization: QPR Institute
Description/Purpose:
- The course teaches detection and interviewing of persons in crisis and determining next steps to ensure a person at risk’s safety.
Population: Health and mental health professionals; Customized versions available for law enforcement, EMS/firefighters, nurses, and primary care physicians and physician assistants.
For more information, visit the QPR Institute website.
Model/Training: Suicide Alertness for Everyone: Tell, Ask, Listen, and Keep Safe (safeTALK)
Organization: Living Works
Description/Purpose:
- Training to improve awareness and identification of as well as response to a person with suicidal thoughts; and
- How to apply the steps specific to safeTALK and help connect a person at risk or in crisis with resources.
Population: Adults, Youth 15 years old and older (can be taught in English and French)
For more information, visit the Living Works website.
Model/Training: Suicide in the Military
Organization: PsychArmor Institute
Description/Purpose:
- Overview of military suicide, symptoms and treatment modalities related to suicidal behavior; and
- Teaches domains associated with suicidal mode, how deployments and other experiences affect the military population.
Population: Health, mental health, and public health professionals.
For more information, visit the PsychArmor Institute website.
Model/Training: Preventing Suicide in Emergency Department Patients
Organization: Suicide Prevention Resource Center
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches how to conduct screening, assessment, and brief interventions, such as safety planning and lethal means counseling for patients in an Emergency Department
- Addresses patient-centered care for persons with suicide risk, patient safety during the ED visit, and incorporating suicide prevention into discharge planning
Population: Open to anyone, especially designed for health care professionals (e.g., medical providers, nurses, behavioral health providers) who work in emergency departments
For more information, visit the Suicide Prevention Resource Center website.
Model/Training: Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM)
Organization: Suicide Prevention Resource Center
Description/Purpose:
- Covers why reducing access to lethal means of self-harm saves lives;
- Teaches practical skills on when and how to ask suicidal clients about their access to lethal means and how to work with them and their families to reduce that access.
Population: Health and mental health professionals and paraprofessionals.
For more information, visit the Suicide Prevention Resource Center website.
Model/Training: SafeSide Behavioral Health
Organization: SafeSide Prevention
Description/Purpose:
- Unites staff across behavioral health service lines with a common framework for recovery-oriented suicide prevention.
- Offers 3-4 hours of video-based learning for an entire team. Virtual office hours and online refreshers are offered year-round.
Population: Mental health professionals together with non-clinical patient care personnel.
For more information, visit the SafeSide Prevention.
Model/Training: SafeSide Behavioral Health
Organization: SafeSide Youth Services
Description/Purpose:
- Provides staff at all levels with a framework for suicide prevention with youth.
- Offers 3-4 hours of video-based learning for an entire team. Virtual office hours and online refreshers are offered year-round.
Population: Clinical and non-clinical human services staff in youth-serving organizations.
For more information, visit the SafeSide Prevention.
ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT – CLINICAL STAFF
Model/Training: Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR)
Organization: Zero Suicide Institute
Description/Purpose:
Informed by the latest research, Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) is a one-day training that expands the clinical skills of providers and offers a clear and descriptive suicide risk formulation model to inform long-term treatment planning.
Teaching and skills-building methods include video demonstrations, group discussion, written and paired practice, case review, and expert teaching.
Offers three clinical-level trainings:
- AMSR: Core Competencies for Health and Behavioral Health Professionals Working in Outpatient Settings;
- AMSR: Core Competencies for Behavioral Health Professionals Working in Inpatient Settings, and
- AMSR for Substance Use Disorder Treatment Professionals.
Population: Mental health professionals
For more information, visit the Zero Suicide Institute website.
Model/Training: Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE)
Organization: Training Institute for Suicide Assessment & Clinical Interviewing
Description/Purpose:
- Participants practice a specific interviewing strategy in groups to elicit suicidal ideation, behaviors, planning, and intent
- Uses scripted group role-playing to teach the CASE Approach
Population: Mental health professionals (additional workshops ranging from 1.5 hour, half-day, to full days focused on specific clinical content or special populations such as military and veterans and colleges and schools available through the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing)
For more information, visit the Suicide Assesement website.
Model/Training: Cognitive Therapy – Suicide Prevention (CT-SP)
Organization: Penn Center for the Prevention of Suicide
Description/Purpose:
- Training in Cognitive Therapy – Suicide Prevention (CT-SP), an evidence-based, time-limited therapeutic framework specifically for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Population: Mental health professionals (additional training options include suicide risk assessment, safety planning intervention, and intensive training in CT-SP)
For more information, visit the Penn Center for the Prevention of Suicide.
Model/Training: Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)
Organization: CAMS-care, LLC
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), an evidence-based, therapeutic framework emphasizing collaborative assessment and treatment planning.
Population: Mental health professionals (there are various CAMS training options to meet the needs and expectations of a wide range of clinicians and systems of care)
For more information, visit the CAMS-care website.
Model/Training: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Organization: Behavioral Tech: A Linehan Institute Training Company
Description/Purpose:
- Training in foundations and application of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, an evidence-based therapeutic framework
Population: Mental health professionals (various training options including suicide intervention and DBT certification)
For more information, visit the Behavioral Tech website.
Model/Training: Suicide to Hope: A Recovery and Growth Workshop
Organization: LivingWorks
Description/Purpose:
- Provides tools to help professional caregivers work together with individuals with experiences of suicide to develop recovery goals.
- Competencies and skills focus on structuring and managing work with an individual recently at risk of suicide and/or coordinating with other caregivers.
Population: Mental health professionals
For more information, visit the Living Works website.
Model/Training: Question, Persuade, Refer, Treat (QPRT): Suicide Risk Assessment and Management Training Pro
Organization: QPR Institute
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches how to conduct a suicide risk assessment, create a shared risk management plan, and document suicide risk assessments and clinical decisions.
Population: Mental health professionals
For more information, visit the QPR Institute website.
Model/Training: Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT)
Organization: Drexel University: ABFT Training Program
Description/Purpose:
- ABFT is a brief, empirically supported intervention model to improve family functioning to better support adolescents at risk for suicide and depression.
- The model is process oriented, trauma informed, and strength-based.
Population: Mental Health professionals (various training options including suicide intervention and ABFT certification)
SPECIALTY SETTINGS – EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AND PRIMARY CARE
Model/Training: At Risk in the ED
Organization: Kognito
Description/Purpose:
- Build skills in screening patients for substance use, mental health disorders, and suicide risk, collaboratively engaging in treatment planning, and referring patients for further support as part of routine care.
- Focused on integrating behavioral health in acute care with interactive, avatar-based role-play simulation.
Population: Emergency department professionals (nurses and medical providers), and medical students
For more information, visit the Kognito website.
Model/Training: At-Risk in Primary Care
Organization: Kognito
Description/Purpose:
- Prepares primary care personnel to screen patients for mental health and substance abuse disorders including suicide risk, perform brief interventions, and refer patients to treatment.
- Interactive, avatar-based role-play simulation.
Population: Primary care professionals who screen patients for mental health and substance abuse disorders.
For more information, visit the Kognito website.
Model/Training: Recognizing & Responding to Suicide Risk in Primary Care
Organization: American Association of Suicidology
Description/Purpose:
- Teaches how to integrate suicide risk assessments into routine office visits, to formulate relative risk, and to work collaboratively with patients to create treatment plans.
- Includes a pocket assessment tool and reproducible patient handouts.
Population: Medical providers such as nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners working in primary care
For more information, visit the American Association of Suicidology website.
Model/Training: SafeSide Primary Care
Organization: SafeSide Prevention
Description/Purpose:
- Brief teaching, demonstrations, and group discussion that provide a framework and practical steps for primary care.
- Three 50-min group video-based sessions.
Population: Primary care providers and staff
For more information, visit the SafeSide Prevention website.
