Making it Safer: A Health Centre’s Strategy for Suicide Prevention

Abstract

Developing and implementing consistent methodology for suicide assessment and intervention is challenging, particularly in a large community hospital which provides both inpatient care and a wide range of ambulatory and community based mental health programs. Patients, families, staff, and ongoing evaluation contributed to the development of an initiative to determine what is best practice and in effecting changes in clinical and organizational practices. The Suicide Assessment project resulted in improved clinical outcomes for patients and clients. Staff report that they feel more supported in probing for suicidal ideation and have the skills required to effectively intervene with the 'suicidal' patient/client. This project advanced our knowledge of suicide assessment and risk management and provided new insights to assist professionals in the aftermath of a client's suicide when, as Valente describes, clinicians report 'feeling overwhelmed with feelings of guilt, self-blame, and responsibility (Valente S: Journal of Psychosocial Nursing 40:7 22-23, 2002).

Suicide Intervention Training for K–12 Schools: A Quasi‐Experimental Study on ASIST

“…Our findings support previous research indicating that individuals trained in ASIST report feeling more comfortable, competent, and confident in intervening with a person at risk of suicide (Griesbach et al, 2008;McAuliffe & Perry, 2007;Rodgers, 2010;Turley et al, 2000). In addition, our results corroborate previous research findings, which showed that individuals trained in ASIST have increased suicide intervention skills (Illich, 2004;Tierney, 1994;Turley et al, 2000).…”

“…Individuals trained in ASIST consistently report feeling more competent and confident to intervene with a person at risk of suicide (Griesbach et al, 2008;McAuliffe & Perry, 2007;Turley, Pullen, Thomas, & Rolfe, 2000). Individuals trained in ASIST consistently report feeling more competent and confident to intervene with a person at risk of suicide (Griesbach et al, 2008;McAuliffe & Perry, 2007;Turley, Pullen, Thomas, & Rolfe, 2000).…”

“…ASIST is a 14-hour, 2-day, internationally recognized suicide intervention training model that has been adopted by multiple states and branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, recognized by the CDC, and used in crisis centers across the country. Individuals trained in ASIST consistently report feeling more competent and confident to intervene with a person at risk of suicide (Griesbach et al, 2008;McAuliffe & Perry, 2007;Turley, Pullen, Thomas, & Rolfe, 2000). The ASIST program has been evaluated in a variety of settings, with pretest-posttest differences in trainees' readiness (i.e., comfort level) to intervene with a person at risk of suicide (Griesbach et al, 2008;Rodgers, 2010;Turley et al, 2000) and demonstrated intervention skills in responding to a simulated scenario involving a person at risk of suicide (Illich, 2004;Tierney, 1994;Turley et al, 2000).…”

“…Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST; Lang et al, 2013), an empirically supported suicide intervention program (Gould, Cross, Pisani, Munfakh, & Kleinman, 2013;Griesbach et al, 2008;Guttormsen, Høifødt, Silvola, & Burkeland, Shannonhouse, Lin, Shaw, & Porter 2003;McAuliffe & Perry, 2007;Rodgers, 2010), may offer a standardized and measurable means of enhancing the ability of K-12 school personnel in responding to youth at risk of suicide and may be more applicable to rural areas. The current study is the first to rigorously evaluate ASIST in the K-12 school context.…”

Teaching Therapeutic Assessment for self‐harm in adolescents: Training outcomes

“…The programme is disseminated by local trainers, who have attended a 5‐day ‘T4T’ workshop. There are some preliminary positive reports of the impact of ASIST on the trainees’ satisfaction and confidence (McAuliffe & Perry, 2007) but no further evaluation is available.…”