Suicide Prevention in Colorado Schools

Communities of Practice

A Community of Practice (CoP) provides space to brainstorm and exchange ideas. PCMH is hosting a monthly School Readiness and Resiliency CoP for school staff looking to connect with other professionals to improve suicide prevention efforts in schools. Topics include improving suicide assessments, providing self-care for staff, engaging youth and families in safety planning, and engaging with students experiencing mental health challenges. This CoP began in September 2020, but school staff are invited to register at any point throughout 2021.

School Workshops

PCMH offers workshops for schools on developing suicide intervention and postvention policies and procedures. These workshops review best practice guidelines to intervene with students experiencing thoughts of suicide as well as ways to respond after a suicide loss. Participants will also be given the opportunity for discussion, dialogue, and idea sharing with other school professionals.

DBT ON-DEMAND

This course is a self-paced introductory overview of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a therapeutic approach focused on building skills around mindfulness, stress management, and healthy relationships. In this course, particular recommendations are offered for facilitating learning in individual/group environments and within remote learning environments.

LIVE 5-PART DBT SERIES

This training occurs five consecutive weeks to facilitate learning, dialogue, and implementation of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills. Each week, participants spend 1.5 hours reviewing one module of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and learning one skill they can use in their personal and professional lives. Modules includes mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and finding the middle path. Interested in arranging this series? Send us an email!

CUSTOMIZED TRAININGS

We can provide customized trainings that meet the needs of school communities. We offer families support and coaching on suicide prevention practices within the home, building emotional regulation skills as a family, and finding healthy ways to resolve conflict. We can also support training for educators looking to improve their ability to manage feelings of stress and burnout. If you’d like to customize a training for your school community and/or staff, please fill out our training request form.

QUESTION, PERSUADE, REFER
(QPR)

QPR is a 1.5 hour training for anyone 18+ who wants to learn more about youth suicide risk and warning signs, prevention strategies, and how to support a youth having thoughts of suicide. These trainings are free and offered on a monthly basis. While this PCMH-led course is specifically focused on youth in Colorado, the skills of QPR transfer to other ages and states.

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

ASIST is a two-day interactive workshop on suicide first aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan to support their immediate safety. If you are interested in scheduling an ASIST training for your group, please contact info@pcmh.org.

Youth Mental Health First Aid
(YMHFA)

YMHFA is designed to teach adults how to help a youth (ages 12-18) experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or crisis. The training is primarily designed for adults who regularly interact with young people. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a five-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. If you’re interested in implementing Teen Mental Health First Aid at your school, this course is a prerequisite. Please contact info@pcmh.org to schedule a YMHFA training.