Course 5P-A Preventing Suicide: A Tool Kit for High Schools

Course overview

Course 5PA, Part I of Preventing Suicide, a Tool Kit for High Schools. Presents a comprehensive approach to PREVENTING primary suicides of students in high schools as well as a POSTVENTION approach to preventing copy cat or contagion suicides in the surviving student population. The document was originally published in 2012 but is reviewed annually by SAMHSA, and it is currently a featured manual on the SAMHSA website. This course earns 5.75 CEUs and has two Study Guides and a quiz for each Study Guide. Each of the steps involved in developing a comprehensive Suicide Prevention Plan for High Schools includes a TOOL which guides the identification and implementation of the necessary steps, including forms, worksheets, fact sheets, guidelines, and handouts for use in training staff and educating parents. Study Guide 1 focuses upon the legal issues and protective need for high schools to develop a Suicide Prevention Plan which meets the needs of their students, including cultural factors and varying family constellations, and which considers the staff and community resources which are available to play specific roles in plan implementation. The first Study Guide also introduces the Risk Factors, the Protective Factors, and the Warning Signs of the potential for suicide among students. The second Study Guide describes the steps and tools necessary to IMPLEMENT the components of a comprehensive school-based suicide prevention program, including the specifics of Suicide Risk Assessment and determining the Levels of Risk. The GOALS of the Course: 1. Access an empirically based Suicide Prevention toolkit with step-by-step tools to implement a multifaceted suicide prevention program addressing the needs and cultures of high school students 2. Know research-based strategies that can help prevent suicide of students in high schools, including a Suicide Risk Assessment Tool for evaluating the level of risk of an adolescent student. 3. Know the indicators which correlate with low, moderate, and high Suicide Risk Levels of high school students, and the correlation between SUDs, mental health disorders, family dynamics, and suicidal behavior. 4. Learn how to integrate suicide prevention into activities that fulfill other aspects of the school mission, such as preventing the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, and bullying. 5. Understand the steps necessary to implement the components of a comprehensive school-based suicide prevention program, including specific tools to implement these steps -- guidelines, forms, checklists, worksheets, and fact sheets for program planning, training of staff, and education of parents. 6. Obtain guidance on how to identify school staff and community partners to play specific roles, and effective ways to generate support for the plan in the school system and within the community. 7. Understand how to prioritize and select programs and activities that will be effective in individual schools, including cultural and ethnic elements and staff assignments for the Suicide Prevention Plan. CEU By Net sponsors this course online. It is published by SAMHSA in collaboration with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, in collaboration with Education Development Center, Inc., and the NASMHPD Research Institute, under contract with SAMHSA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rosalyn Blogier, LCSWC and Dr. Tarsha Wilson, Government Project Officers.