Prevention Trainings
There is hope
Suicide can be preventable
Below are listings of educational opportunities available in North Dakota from partner and outside agencies. Please contact the organization associated with the training for more information and costs.
A training/organization listed on this website is not necessarily endorsed by the North Dakota Suicide Prevention Coalition.
FirstLink (ph. 701-293-6462) offers trainings and workshops to community members on a variety of topics including mental health, suicide, community resources, disasters, volunteerism, and self-care. CEUs are available for some of the following trainings for a variety of disciplines including Social Work, Nursing, Law Enforcement, and EMS.
211 University is a one-hour training. Database staff will share tips and tricks including how to search and find community resources through our online database, texting services, trainings offered by FirstLink and more! In addition, staff will highlight important trends, requests and types of contacts from previous years. Audience: All community members.
safeTALK is a half-day alertness workshop that prepares anyone over the age of 15, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper. Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. safeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations and act by connecting them with life-saving intervention resources, such as caregivers trained in ASIST. Audience: Anyone over the age of 15.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day workshop designed for all community members. The goal is to enhance a caregiver’s ability to assist a person at risk of suicide. ASIST enhances skills to intervene until either the immediate risk of suicide is reduced, or additional life-assistance resources can be found. CEUs are available. Audience: Adults interested in learning how to intervene with someone who is suicidal.
Suicide Education Outreach has provided the community with valuable information since 1996. Participants receive training on warning signs, risk factors and statistics. Students receive valuable and beneficial information that may help them save their own life or the life of someone they know. Audience: Middle and High School Students
Suicide Risk Assessment Training is designed to improve participants’ knowledge about suicide risk factors and assessing for acute suicide risk using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) screening tool, which is an evidenced based tool for screening for suicide risk. This training presents an overview of suicide statistics in our area as well as acute and lifetime risk factors. Those who attend this training will be taught the C-SSRS screening tool, options for addressing suicide risk such as collaborative safety planning and resources for those at risk of suicide. Audience: All community members.
Mental Health First Aid (available both in-person and virtually) is an interactive 8-hour course that teaches you how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The training helps you identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. CEUs are available. FirstLink offers two versions of Mental Health First Aid. Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed for adults that frequently interact with youth. Adult Mental Health First Aid focuses on training adults helping adults. Audience: Adults who interact with youth or adults who interact with other adults.
Connect Suicide Prevention/Intervention (Thea Jorgenson thea.afsp@gmail.com or 701-934-2458) provides training in suicide prevention across the lifespan for professionals and laypersons. Using a unique socio-ecological model, Connect examines suicide prevention in the context of the individual, family, tribe, community and society. Participants learn to recognize early warning signs of suicide and how to connect with individuals at risk and get them help. Additionally, Connect training addresses “systems” issues including the need for community-wide collaboration, safe messaging, restricting access to lethal means, and the impact of social media. Audience: Professionals and general community members.
Sources of Strength, (follow link for contact information) first developed in North Dakota and now being used nation-wide, is a universal suicide prevention program designed to build socioecological protective influences around youth and to reduce the likelihood that vulnerable youth/young adults will become suicidal. Their mission is to provide the highest quality evidence-based prevention for suicide, violence, bullying and substance abuse by training, supporting, and empowering both peer leaders and caring adults to impact their world through the power of connection, hope, help and strength. Audience: Sources of Strength is most often implemented as a school-based program in middle school, high school, or college. However Sources of Strength is also often used in community, faith-based, and cultural settings.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) (ND Chapter ph. 701-371-1194) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death. AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. Educational opportunities offered:
Talk Saves Lives is AFSP’s standardized, 45-60 minute education program that provides participants with a clear understanding of this leading cause of death, including the most up-to-date research on suicide prevention, and what they can do in their communities to save lives. Participants will learn common risk factors and warning signs associated with suicide, and how to keep themselves and others safe. The standard Talk Saves Lives presentation is also available in Spanish. Audience: All community members.
Signs Matter: Early Detection presents scientifically based information on a variety of topics related to youth suicide, alongside best practice recommendations drawn from experts in the mental health and education fields. Science sheds light on key questions of risk and protective factors for youth suicide, as well as the most common behavioral presentations expressed by at risk youth. Recommendations for school personnel roles, support, referrals, and interventions are drawn from best practices of educational and mental health experts. Audience: K-12 educators.
More than Sad provides different modules for the high-school aged audience: teaching teens to recognize the signs of depression in themselves and others, challenges existing stigma surrounding depression, and demystifies the treatment process; teaching parents how to recognize signs of depression and other mental health problems, initiate a conversation about mental health with their child, and get help; and teaching educators to recognize signs of mental health distress in students and refer them for help. The program includes facilitator guides for two films: Teen Depression and Preventing Teen Suicide. Audience: Teens, their parents, and their educators.
It’s Real: College Students and Mental Health (17-minute film, produced by AFSP and accompanied by facilitator’s tools and resources) is designed to raise awareness about mental health issues commonly experienced by students, and is intended to be used as part of a school’s educational program to encourage help-seeking. By featuring real stories and experiences, It’s Real conveys that depression and other mental health conditions are real illnesses that can be managed through specific treatments and interventions. It encourages students to be mindful of the state of their mental health, to acknowledge and recognize when they are struggling, and to take steps to seek help. Audience: College students.
The Interactive Screening Program (ISP) is an online program utilized by mental health services at institutions of higher education, including medical and professional degree schools, hospitals and health systems, law enforcement agencies, and organizations and workplaces through their Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Through a customized program website/platform, ISP provides a safe and confidential way for individuals to take a brief screening for stress, depression, and other mental health conditions, and receive a personal response from a program counselor within the mental health services available to them. Individuals can anonymously communicate with the program counselor to receive recommendations, feedback, and support for connecting to available mental health services. Audience: Institutions of higher education, including medical and professional degree schools, hospitals and health systems, law enforcement agencies, and organizations and workplaces through their Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
The Model School District Policy on Suicide Prevention gives educators and school administrators a comprehensive way to implement suicide prevention policies in their local community. In collaboration with the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and The Trevor Project, the program is research-based and easily adaptable for middle and high schools. There are specific, actionable steps to support school personnel; sample language for student handbooks; suggestions for involving parents and guardians in suicide prevention; and guidance for addressing in-school suicide attempts. Audience: School personnel.
Soul Shop is one-day training workshop designed to equip clergy, staff, lay pastors, and faith-based clinicians with the resources and guidance they need to foster hope and healing in their community. The goal of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the incidence and impact of suicide on their faith communities, and train them to address issues related to suicide. Audience: Clergy and others in the faith-based community.
SafeSide provides a clear framework for suicide prevention in primary care. SafeSide Primary CARE training provides a framework for responding to suicide concerns within the time and resource constraints of primary care. Co-taught by a primary care psychologist and a suicide attempt survivor, the framework comes to life in video-based teaching from these two perspectives and brief skill demonstrations by real primary care providers. Audience: Primary Care Providers and their clinics.
The Fargo VA Suicide Prevention Team (ph. 701-232-3241 x3637) offers free trainings to the community upon request, including the following:
VA S.A.V.E. (Signs, Ask, Validate, Encourage/Expedite) is a free, one hour class focused on how to identify the warning signs and risk factors of suicide, how to ask a person if they are suicidal, how to validate a Veterans thoughts/ feelings of suicide ideation and where to refer them for further professional help. S.A.V.E. is also available online for free via Psych Armor. Audience: Community members and mental health professionals.
Lethal Means Safety Education is a free, one hour class that focuses on educating on items/materials (e.g. medications, firearms, sharp objects) that can be used to engage in Suicidal Self-Directed Violence, including suicide attempts. Facilitating lethal means safety is an essential component of effective suicide prevention. Audience: Health and mental health professionals.
First Responder Training (from 2 up to 8 Hours) is designed to improve first responders’ engagement with Veterans in crisis by learning about post deployment issues Veterans may experience upon returning from tour(s) of duty. Participants will learn warning signs of suicide and strategies for prevention, Veteran-specific mental health concerns, in addition to services provided by the VA. Audience: Law enforcement and first responders.
Prairie St. John’s (follow link for contact information) offers complimentary, mental health professional training sessions as part of the Prairie St. John’s Professional Education Series where one can obtain valuable information and earn continuing education credits (CEUs) for social workers, counselors, therapists and other professionals with an interest in behavioral health. A wide variety of seminars on current mental health or substance use topics are offered throughout the year to educate and interface with community organizations and help professionals that serve our patients throughout the community. Audience: Mental Health Professionals.
North Dakota National Guard Partnerships in Prevention (PIP) (701-333-3804) exists to create healthier communities by supporting wellness prevention education to enhance the resilience and readiness of the community. PIP advises leaders on shared prevention strategies which promote the wellness of individual civilians, Service Members, and military families. Suggested partners include: Human service & social service agencies, tribal entities, public/private school systems, behavioral health professionals, first responders, law enforcement, corrections, and agencies who have high contact with at risk community members.
