Webinar: School-based suicide prevention
Description: Unfortunately, schools and school communities are not exempt from suicide crises, which may involve multiple suicide attempts, single or multiple suicides, or increased suicidality in community members in response to suicides either within or outside of the community (suicide contagion). These crises are often influenced and intensified by reports in both traditional and social media. Bullying both in and outside the school is a known risk factor for suicidality in youth. All of the presenters have been and continue to be directly involved in school suicide crisis response, and will describe lessons learned in tailoring crisis response to provide the best fit for that school and school community’s culture, custom, practices, and needs in coping with the particular circumstances and specific nature of the suicide crisis at hand. Strategies to mitigate against bullying and problematic media reporting will also be discussed.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Learning Objectives:
- Examine and contrast the defining characteristics of the variety of suicidal crises that adversely affect schools.
- Develop strategies to minimize risk factors such as media reporting and bullying that exacerbate youth suicidality.
- Employ strategies for suicide crisis response that best fit a school’s unique needs.
