Mental Health Speaker for Schools

Spotting Students at Risk: The educator’s role in preventing suicide & self-harm behaviors

Program Details in PDF

Audience: For university faculty and K-12 educators.

Time: Usually an hour but anywhere from 45 minutes-90 minutes

How can you spot students who might be at risk for suicide? Is there anything you can do to prevent students from getting to crisis in the first place? What do you do or say? And how can you find support?
Whether it’s having a conversation with someone who is stressed or talking to someone who might be suicidal, this presentation will empower educators with the words and tools needed to be the bridge to support. You don’t have to fix this. But you can allow another human to feel seen and heard which is the greatest gift you can offer.

Takeaways:

• How to spot students/co-workers at risk and what to say/do
• How to have difficult conversations with students
• How to be a trusted adult and a wisdom guide
• Case studies of simple shifts in teaching that promote wellness and learning
• The single most important skill for working with young people
• Self-care for you
• Resources and protocols

Youth Suicide Prevention, Intervention, Postvention: Half-day training for K-12 & Universities

Program Details in pdf

Audience: This suicide prevention training for teachers and other educators works well as a pre-conference workshop or as a stand-alone. Training is for faculty and support personnel including teachers, professors, school counselors, principals, SROs, deans, and superintendents. This topic is customized to specific areas and populations. 

Time: Half day (3.5 hours) This has been bundled with parent education, student mental health topics, and consulting.   

Topic Description:

This suicide prevention training for schools and colleges is rich with interactive activities, real-life examples of evidence-informed strategies, case studies, and stories of how educators have created a culture of suicide prevention.

Participants will have the opportunity to work through scenarios and discussions to strengthen their ability to gain insight, tools, and resources to work through one of the most difficult topics those working with students face.  This empowers educators to speak on the uncomfortable topic of suicide as well as mental health and helps prevent students from getting to crisis. While it focuses on students, the strategies for adults and co-workers are similar.

3.5 HOUR TRAINING OUTLINE:

Part I – Prevention

• Signs to look for in young people ages 6-25. What to look for in artwork, on social media sites, and in papers students write.
• Going upstream to prevent students from getting to crisis. A review of case studies of how teachers have integrated coping and critical thinking into their curriculum and how that helps kids build resilience and coping skills.
• Creating a suicide-safe environment (means restrictions such as breakaway closet rods)

Part II – Intervention

• What to say, what to do, scripts, and role play on how to respond.
• Scripts for effectively and supportively addressing conversations and situations with students in an age-appropriate and sensitive way.
• How to encourage students over 18 to talk to their parents if appropriate giving them some agency in the process so they feel more grounded in their own care.

Part III- Postvention

• The top errors most administrators make after a school suicide can put other vulnerable students at risk.
• How to support staff and students in their grief after the suicide of a teacher or student. (downloadable pdf of what to say/not to say)
• What to do and say to the parent of a deceased child. (Downloadable script template)
• What educators can say to students who accuse teachers of holding back or lying when the parent has asked that the cause of death not be disclosed? (Downloadable script template)
• Strategies to try to prevent contagion and cohort suicide.
• Memorial guidelines and creating a commemoration policy and why that’s important.

Early Intervention Works: Mental Health education, 0-5 yrs

Program Details in pdf

Audience: Early educators and state agency employees (caseworkers)

Time: 45 minutes to 1.5 hours or a series. Virtual, in-person or hybrid.

Description:

It was a teacher who first told AnneMoss Rogers that her son, Charles, might be suffering from depression. And it was a teacher who wrote the most heartfelt note after her son died by suicide. There were early signs that Charles might have future struggles, yet few knew what effective intervention looked like or what to do.

Schools and pre-schools have something few other environments have and that’s an opportunity for early intervention and genuine human connection. This is the most valuable currency in today’s education community. How can we leverage those opportunities to bolster a culture of child wellness, build resilience, and give kids the tools they need to manage life going forward?

Takeaways:

• What are the risk factors and how can preschool educators strengthen the protective factors?
• How to spot kids early who need extra support.
• Age-appropriate ways to have challenging conversations (talk bubbles or scripted role-play conversations)
• The single most important skill to teach preschoolers for emotional regulation.
• Early intervention case study that started with a pediatrician saying, “He’ll grow out of it,” and a mom who didn’t accept that answer.
• A case study of how a kindergarten educator builds emotional awareness and coping skills in her classroom.
• Games and activities plus other resources to bolster early emotional wellness.