Suicide Prevention in Colorado Schools

School 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, and engaging youth and families in safety planning. This CoP began in fall 2020, but school staff are invited to register at any point throughout 2021.

Suicide Intervention & Postvention Workshops

PCMH offers workshops for schools on developing suicide intervention and postvention policies and procedures. Suicide intervention workshops review best practice guidelines to intervene with students experiencing thoughts of suicide. Suicide postvention workshops go over 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 over five consecutive weeks to facilitate learning, dialogue, and implementation of DBT skills. Each week, participants review one module and learn a skill to use in their personal and professional lives. Modules includes mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and finding the middle path. Want to arrange this series? Send us an email!

CUSTOMIZED TRAININGS

We can provide customized trainings to meet the needs of school communities. For example, we offer families support and coaching on suicide prevention practices within the home. We also support training for educators looking to improve their ability to manage feelings of stress and burnout. To customize a training for your school community or staff, please send us an email.

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. In this evidence-based training, participants learn how to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and create a plan to support their immediate safety. Participants will also learn to use a suicide intervention model. If you are interested in scheduling ASIST for your group, please contact info@pcmh.org.

Youth Mental Health First Aid
(YMHFA)

YMHFA teaches adults how to help 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.