Today marks the official start of National Suicide Prevention Week, with September 10th honored as World Suicide Prevention Day.
Suicide education, awareness, and prevention organizations worldwide are taking this opportunity to promote a few key themes and messages around suicide prevention, notably:
Every person has a role to play in suicide prevention. The Lifeline works to empower friends, family members, coworkers, and acquaintances to recognize the warning signs and know how best approach the topic of mental health or suicide, rather than simply encouraging people thinking of suicide to call the Lifeline. The #BeThe1To campaign campaign works to empower the public at large to recognize the warning signs of suicide, and know how to help someone who may be suicidal. This campaign also reminds us that suicide is a public health issue, and that we all can take responsibility for preventing suicide given the right knowledge and resources.
Smashing stigma continues to be the mission of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). They take the opportunity of Suicide Prevention Week to encourage people to share their stories and experiences, and reject the stigma and prejudice that cause people to suffer in silence. Similarly, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is promoting the power of connection, and openly talking about mental health in everyday conversations.
Suicide prevention is a year-round effort. While it’s important to bring attention to the topic of suicide during special events and recognition dates, the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) has launched its #AAS365 initiative that focuses on suicide prevention each day of the year. They advocate continuously spreading awareness, advocating for research funding, developing innovative and effective treatment tools, being kind, and helping to educate others on things like resources and warning signs.
It is heartening to see how each year National Suicide Prevention Week grows in its reach and the number of people participating. It is clear that people are becoming more willing to talk about suicide, reach out to loved ones, and have conversations with others about it. One can see the initiatives outlined above in action and ultimately these conversations provide some of the best hope for reducing suicide rates.
To all the suicide prevention helpline volunteers and staff, researchers and doctors, advocates, people with lived experience, and suicide loss survivors — we thank you for your lifesaving work and for raising your voices this week and all year-round to help save lives.
The National Crisis Center Conference presented by CONTACT USA and NASCOD is 4 months away! Details about the conference including conference and hotel registration can be found at http://www.crisiscon.org/. Early bird registration will end August 17th so register now to receive the early bird discount.
This year’s conference will be from October 17th – 19th in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference includes 3 days of best practices, intensive trainings, and networking opportunities with crisis center leaders and managers from around the country.
For those that have not attended a conference before, it is a great way to network with other centers, meet new people, connect with colleagues, as well as learn and share pertinent crisis work information.
Call for papers is now open as well. If you are interested in presenting, please submit your presentation proposal at: http://www.crisiscon.org/program.html. Deadline for submission is Wednesday, July 11th.
From April 18th through the 21st, Polly McDaniel, Director of Business Development, and Rachel Wentink, Vice President, Operations, will be in Washington, DC for the 51st American Association of Suicidology (AAS) Conference.
As we shared recently, iCarol is now a part of Harris Computer Systems as the flagship product for not-for-profits falling within the CityView portfolio of solutions. As such, we’re delighted to also welcome Sean Higgins, Executive Vice President of CityView, who will be joining us at AAS from Thursday through Friday of that week. Sean is eager to learn more about the industry iCarol serves and meet our customers, and we’re equally excited for all of you to meet him!
Our team will be at booth #202 in the Ballroom Foyer and you’ll also see us at many of the events and sessions, too. It’s important to us to learn about all the latest research, lived experiences, and the expanding needs of crisis centers as they work to build suicide-safer communities. We are looking forward to hearing about how things have been going for your organization, and the exciting initiatives you’ve had going on. We’d also enjoy the opportunity to answer any questions you may have about iCarol and talk with you about how our solution can support your suicide prevention service.
We’ve all been there — you’re minding your own business, running your suicide prevention center and focusing on your clients and staff, when suddenly you’re asked to talk to a journalist for a story about your organization, or comment on the topic of suicide prevention for an article. Does the very idea of this cause you to break out into a cold sweat? If it does, you’re certainly not alone!
If you feel uncomfortable or unprepared when it comes time to communicate effectively and succinctly with the media or the public, then I hope you’ll join us for our next webinar on Wednesday, April 4th at 2pm EST.
We’ll be joined by Chris Maxwell, Communications Coordinator for the American Association of Suicidology, for a webinar on the topic of crafting effective messaging for your crisis center. This webinar is designed to help crisis center directors, program managers, and others with the responsibility of communication on behalf of your organization, to communicate effectively about your services, needs, and the topic of suicide.
About Our Presenter:
Chris Maxwell Communications Coordinator
American Association of Suicidology
Chris is the Communications Coordinator for the American Association of Suicidology. He has worked in the suicide prevention and mental health field for the past nine years, first as a volunteer crisis counselor and then later as a statewide suicide prevention grant administrator. In a previous position with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, he worked closely with crisis centers across the country to connect and collaborate. Chris is passionate about understanding suicide, harnessing the capability of social media to prevent it, and strives to advocate for the voices of those with lived experience. He is a production team member of the #SPSM (Suicide Prevention and Social Media) community. Chris is an advisory board member for OurDataHelps.org, which allows people to donate their social media data to be used for mental health research and allow clinicians to create treatment tools. Follow Chris on twitter @chrsmxwll.
“Net neutrality” is a term you’ve likely heard in recent months, but did you know that the repeal of these regulations could directly and negatively effect crisis services, suicide prevention, and other aspects of this industry’s online presence and serving consumers on those channels?
Beau Pinkham, Director of Crisis Intervention Services at the Crisis Center of Johnson County, recently penned an article on this topic on his organization’s blog. If you attended our recent webinar you know that Beau is well-versed in providing services online, and the technological hurdles crisis centers must navigate in delivering these services. He writes, in part:
Volunteers at The Crisis Center answer about 30,000 crisis contacts each year. About half of those are calls to the 24-hour hotline and half are chats. Soon, chat will surpass phone calls as the primary mode by which people in crisis get help. Demand is at an all-time high but nationally, only 9 percent of chats are answered.
At IowaCrisisChat.org, we are just beginning to find new, innovative ways to close the gap; but the FCC changed the rules and we are losing control.
What we built over the last decade is under threat. This entire system, like much of the web, was built with the assumption of open, equitable Internet in which everyone can participate. The FCC tearing net neutrality apart literally puts lives at stake.
Our next webinar, titled “Building a United Crisis Line Team in Times of Diverse Need,” will be held on Tuesday, February 6th at 2pm EST.
With the stress of crisis call content and increasing volume as well as an expanding spectrum of needs being addressed, it can be difficult to know how best to unify your team and provide them with ample support, supervision and training, while also addressing your own operations, adequate scheduling, and volunteer/staff development.
This webinar, led by Rebecca Stock and Johanna Louie of the Suicide Prevention Center at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, will guide crisis center managers and supervisors through addressing these challenges. Attendees of this webinar will learn about expanding the skillsets of their staff and volunteers so that a wide array of topics can be addressed by them on calls and chats, ensuring that the most vulnerable populations are well served. Our presenters will also take us through how to balance the management of day-to-day operations with the needs of the volunteer or staff crisis workers. We’ll also discuss how to pair data and manager expertise to plan for operational and staffing needs. The tools we discuss will accelerate crisis lines’ abilities to balance meeting the increasing demand of people in crisis while caring for a vulnerable team of crisis counselors.
Our Presenters:
Rebecca Stock joined Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in 2007 as a Volunteer Suicide Prevention Counselor and since then has become a Supervisor and is now the Program Coordinator for the 24-Hour Crisis Line. As Program Coordinator, Rebecca provides direct supervision of the Shift Supervisors and Crisis Line Counselors and oversees the daily operations of the crisis line. A large part of Rebecca’s duties include interfacing with related community agencies and local colleges, attending meetings with the Department of Social Services, participating in various outreach events. Being part of the Suicide Crisis Line for over 10 years, Rebecca has been trained in ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and plays a large role in providing training for new Volunteer Crisis Counselors. In January 2017, Rebecca completed her Masters in Counseling specializing in Marriage and Family Therapy. Rebecca has been touched by losing someone to suicide when in high school and has wanted to erase the stigma since then.
Johanna Louie started at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services as a Volunteer Crisis Line Counselor in 2013. Currently, she is the Online Crisis Services Program Coordinator and oversees the chat and text services. She is passionate about utilizing technology to break down barriers to mental health services. Johanna is data driven and utilizes her prior experience in consumer insights at The Walt Disney Company to leverage analytics in making operational decisions for the Crisis Line. Her experiences in crisis services also include involvement with the Emergency Shelter Program at Center for the Pacific Asian Families, the Mayor’s Crisis Response Team as well as The Trevor Project. She holds a Master of Science in Human Behavior from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing her Master of Social Work from Columbia University.
We hope you can join us for this informative webinar. To find out more and register, click the button below.
From Oct 18 – Oct 20, I’ll be attending the National Crisis Centers Conference in Buffalo, NY along with iCarol’s Director of Business Development, Polly McDaniel, and our newest Solutions Expert, Tonya Broomer, who you may recognize from her previous role as an iCarol Support Team member!
Our history with this group is our longest association, going way back to iCarol’s earliest days, and many of the helplines and crisis centers who host this conference were some of iCarol’s earliest users. It’s a long standing relationship that we value and we’re proud to not only attend but are also long-term sponsors of this important gathering organized by pillars of the helpline industry, CONTACT USA (CUSA) and the National Association of Crisis Organization Directors (NASCOD). Both organizations are phenomenal in supporting crisis work and we recommend considering membership for your service. Find out more about CUSA membership here and NASCOD membership here.
This year’s conference theme is “Unity in Helping.” Time and again we see how coming together and working towards a common goal makes organizations and communities stronger. We recently joined NASCOD and CUSA member organizations and others to rally around a common theme of “being there for others” during National Suicide Prevention Week. This movement empowered millions of people to take action to prevent suicide. Having so many voices on this common theme helped broadcast that message further. We’re looking forward to this year’s conference sessions highlighting all the ways in which we’re stronger together, whether it’s teamwork within your helpline or collaborating with partners in other organizations.
Let’s meet up!
While we look forward to these conference workshops that keep us in-the-know about the issues faced in the industry, which in turn helps us better serve our clients, we also enjoy the chance to see current and potential iCarol users face-to-face so we can hear about their vital work and explore ways we might be able to help. This year we’ll offer some dedicated space before the conference begins, to be available to those who may wish to talk with us.
When: October 18, 9am-4pm
Where: Embassy Suites (same hotel as the conference), Encore Ballroom on the second floor
We’ll be prepared to address whatever topics you wish to discuss, such as:
Training on how to use certain iCarol features
Quick system tours to those unfamiliar with iCarol
Feedback or comments
Any other iCarol questions
There’s no need to schedule an appointment — just stop by at any time you’re free from other conference activities (click here to check-out the preliminary schedule). If you have any questions you’d like to ask prior to stopping by, feel free to !
If you can’t make it on the 18th but wish to meet with us, don’t worry. We’ll be attending sessions and other conference activities and can catch up with you at whatever time is most convenient. See you in Buffalo!
On Wednesday, October 4th at 1pm EST, iCarol will host a webinar on the topic of Crisis Center/Emergency Department (ED) partnerships, specifically those where crisis centers make follow-up calls to discharged patients who came to the ED presenting with suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Research shows that for about 1 in 5 deaths by suicide, the person had actually visited their local emergency department in the weeks before their death. While hospital EDs can keep a person safe in the short-term and provide referrals to long-term care, they aren’t often the best resource to handle the complex and ongoing mental health and emotional needs of someone who is struggling with thoughts of suicide. Most people who visit an ED for concerns related to suicide are discharged after a very short period of time, and the discharge plan often doesn’t involve ongoing direct contact to check and see how the person is doing following their visit, potentially leaving the patient feeling lost and unsupported.
This is where more and more helplines are stepping in. Crisis Centers across North America have engaged in partnerships with their local emergency department to help provide care for ED visitors or discharged patients in the form of follow-up calls. Because crisis center professionals have the best knowledge, training, and resources to provide ongoing care such as this, EDs will make connections between the ED visitor to the crisis center. From there, crisis centers talk to the patient and make a series of follow-up calls or texts to the visitor to keep them feeling supported and engaged with a safety plan. Crisis centers are also best-equipped to see that a person receives referrals to more long-term mental health care or other needed referrals that can help resolve issues compounding a person’s distress and desire to end their life.
During this hour-long webinar, we’ll invite presenters to discuss first-hand experience of these partnerships:
Charissa Tvrdy is a Lead Crisis Clinician and Hospital Follow-Up Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners. Ms. Tvrdy is responsible for oversight and project management of RMCP’s Hospital Follow-Up program. She works as a liaison between RMCP and participating Colorado emergency departments. Ms. Tvrdy assists call center staff in the training, implementation, quality assurance and daily operations of the program. Ms. Tvrdy received her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from The University of Kansas. She has experience working in a call center serving people experiencing behavioral health crisis. Ms. Tvrdy also has clinical experience within a Community Mental Health Center.
Dr. Michael Allen built the model Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program at Bellevue Hospital. He was chair of the APA’s Task Force on Psych Emergency Services, president of the Am Assoc for Emerg Psychiatry, member the NIH Emergency Medicine Roundtable, a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline steering committee member, a STEP-BD, ED SAFE and PRISM investigator and an author of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s ED Decision Support Guide. He has served as a subject matter expert for the US DOJ Civil Rights Div, CMS, NIMH, the Joint Commission and SAMHSA. He was instrumental in forming the Colorado Suicide Prevention Commission and the Colorado National Collaborative. He is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine at the Johnson Depression Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Campus and Medical Director of Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners.
Caitlin Peterson
is the Coordinator of Best Practices in Care Transitions for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, working closely with crisis centers, professional organizations, community partners, and mental health providers to support and advocate for follow-up and partnership with crisis centers. Caitlin has worked in the mental health, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention field for over 10 years, 7 of those in various positions, and later manager, of a blended suicide prevention and information and referral hotline. She has a Master of Science degree in Marriage & Family Therapy from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
We hope you can attend — space is limited so please register ASAP if you’re interested in joining the live presentation. For those who can’t join us, we’ll have the recording available on our website at a later date. To learn more about this webinar and to register, click the button below.
We’ll have a booth at the conference and you’ll see us at many of the events and sessions, too. It’s important to us to learn about and be aware of all the latest research and the expanding needs of helplines as they work to build suicide-safer communities.
We hope you’ll stop by our booth and let us know how things have been going for your organization, and tell us about the exciting initiatives you’ve had going on. We’ll be available to answer any questions you may have about iCarol, and we’ll have some fun activities to check out that are brand new this year!
In particular we’d really enjoy hearing your feedback about the new iCarol Ideas Portal we recently released. We’re excited to hear from our users about how it’s going, what you like about it, and any other feedback you may have. So if you’ve used the Ideas Portal, we definitely want to see you!
With all the excitment and so much going on, the time at the conference goes by quickly, so please look us up at the conference, or
beforehand to schedule some time to chat so we’re sure not to miss the opportunity to see you!
We look forward to seeing you and learning about all the latest in the life-saving work being done by the helpline industry so that we can continue to build our systems to support you.
