Webinar Schedule

Millennials Aren’t Killing the Helpline Industry (But They Are Changing It!)

Overview

Since the 1960’s, local telephone helplines have served as a source of support to people who need help working through a wide range of issues. Thanks to these organizations, people have gotten help in their time of need, and countless lives have been changed–or even saved– thanks to helplines.

These organizations now have challenges facing them that they may not have envisioned years ago. The technological advances of the last 20 years have changed so much about the way we live our lives and communicate with one another. Younger generations’ embrace of new technology has made live chat, SMS/Texting, and self-service modules on websites the norm, while voice calls decline in popularity. Improvement to communication infrastructure and greater connectivity and awareness of public health issues has increased demand for, and development of, nationally available helpline services.

Join iCarol and special guest Keith S. Whyte, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), for a webinar on how new technology and generational shifts are changing helpline work, and the critical role of local center representation within nationally available helpline services.

Viewers will learn:

• The Millennial Generation – who are they really?
• SMS/Texting popularity, by the numbers
• Why “Messaging?”
• Nationwide helplines – benefits and considerations
• “Think Globally, Act Locally” – The critical role of local center participation in national networks

Who Should Watch:
Anyone working at or managing a helpline or Contact Center

Our presenters:

Dana Grayson, Communications and Social Media Manager at iCarol

Keith S. Whyte, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG)

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The Path to Hope: A Digital Support Model for Suicide Caregivers

Overview

A suicide caregiver is defined as someone caring for an individual who is thinking about suicide or exhibiting suicidal behaviors. Being a caregiver increases stress as dynamics in relationships shift and responsibilities change. The role of a suicide caregiver is intersectional as they need to learn how to support a loved one but can also be a person at risk themselves given their exposure to a traumatic experience.

Currently, most services for suicide caregivers are geared towards imminent crisis support or bereavement. Given the stressful nature of caregiving and the lack of existing services, it is crucial for a standard of care to be developed for suicide caregivers. Suicide Is Different provides tools and support for individuals to navigate and thrive through the challenges they face as suicide caregivers. This presentation introduces an interactive digital support program developed by Suicide Is Different and explores ways crisis centers can implement support for suicide caregivers.

Viewers will learn:

• To define the role of a suicide caregiver and identify the need for services not currently being provided for this population
• How crisis centers are uniquely positioned to support suicide caregivers
• The intersectionality of suicide caregiver needs and describe potential interactive tools used to support them
• How principles of caregiver family therapy and suicide-specific supportive services may be adapted to meet the needs of suicide caretakers

Who Should Watch:
Crisis counselors, training managers, program managers, and program directors.

Our presenters:
Daniela Zanich, LCSW and Co-founder
Suicide is Different

Johanna Louie, Co-founder
Suicide is Different

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Addressing Imminent Risk via Collaborative 911 Relationships and the NENA Suicide Prevention Standard

Overview

For crisis organizations, priorities center on providing collaborative and best practices-based client-centered care. This often means working with individuals who may be at imminent risk and providing the best, least-invasive care. But what about when you must involve emergency services?

This presentation will discuss best practices and standards around crisis organization/911 center collaborations in the service of those at imminent risk. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s collaboration with the National Emergency Numbers Association (NENA) and the development of the NENA Suicide Prevention Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be discussed, as well as how it interacts with the Lifeline’s Policy for Working with Individuals at Imminent Risk. The presentation will provide information on how knowledge of the SOP can improve crisis center/PSAP operations and the importance of building collaborative relationships that serve the needs of the community, those of the crisis center, and those of 911/PSAP centers

Viewers will learn:

• How the NENA SOP impacts crisis center operating procedures and interactions with local 911 centers
• The importance of building collaborative relationships with 911 centers as a best practice in addressing imminent risk
• Recent collaboration between the Lifeline and NENA to update and revise the NENA Suicide Prevention SOP
• The advantages of building stronger and more formal partnerships with 911 centers
• Knowledge of the elements of MOUs and other types of formal partnerships between crisis centers and 911 centers and implementing these agreements

Who Should Watch:
Crisis organization leadership/management and others who can affect policy changes at their organization.

Our presenter:
Shye L. Louis, M.Ed., CIRS
Coordinator – Best Practices in Suicide Prevention, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

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Why Advocacy and How the Heck Do You Do It?

Overview

In today’s political climate, we can never take for granted that those drafting and enacting public policy understand the need for crisis intervention and mental health services locally, statewide, and nationally. In fact, crisis intervention services are often the most underrated, misunderstood, and forgotten of the social services. As experts in the field of crisis intervention, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that the services we provide and the clients who benefit from our services remain at the forefront of the discussion on mental health care, whether that’s with our local elected officials, state legislators, or our Congressmen and women in Washington, D.C.

Attendees will learn:

• IRS Rules – Don’t Freak Out!
• Why Advocacy?
• How do you even get started?
• What is Advocacy?

Target Audience:
Not-for-profit organization Executive Directors, Managers, and Support Staff. Everyone can be an advocate for their organization!

Our presenter:
Sara Sedlacek
Communications & Development Director, The Crisis Center of Johnson County

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Understanding and Addressing Stress and Burnout: Managing Frontline Crisis Work

Overview

The work being done at crisis centers can be exhausting and if staff and volunteers don’t take care of themselves or set healthy boundaries, their experience in the field can be short-lived. This workshop is designed to help individuals develop their own tools for helping themselves, but also those who are working in frontline helping professions. We will highlight the importance of preparing for stress and the need for a caring climate both on the phone with callers, and with frontline staff and volunteers as well.

Viewers will learn:

• How to develop an understanding of burnout
• How to develop ways to regain empathy
• Tools for managing your own self-care
• Tools for support staff burnout risk

Target Audience:
Directors, Managers, Program Coordinators, and Supervisors working at crisis centers or similar organizations who wish to learn more about reducing burnout and stress for themselves and their volunteers and frontline staff.

Our presenter:
Kristen Smith, LMSW
Director of Clinical Operations, Gryphon Place

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Marketing Methods That Boost Your Chat/Text Engagement

Overview

Consumer demand for access to services through Chat and Texting/SMS is on the rise across all industries, including not-for-profit services. Helplines, crisis centers, or information and referral organizations must offer more options than a voice call if they wish to reach the most people and make their services more accessible to people in need.

However, simply turning on these channels typically won’t result in an immediate influx of chat messages and texts. Like any new service, it takes planning, advertising and time to build awareness and spread the word before one can hope to see results. Join us for a webinar with a panel of iCarol users running successful Chat/Text programs to hear how they effectively promoted their new channels to the communities they serve.

Attendees will learn:

• An overview of the Live Chat/Texting programs offered by three different organizations based both in the US and Canada
• The methods these organizations used to advertise and build a population of clients for their programs, including their experiences with:
  • Search engine advertising
  • Social Media ads
  • Print media
  • Targeted outreach
  • And more…
• The challenges a Program Manager might expect to face when creating and implementing a marketing plan
• Advice on budgets or making funding requests for marketing purposes

Who should attend:
Program Coordinators or Managers who would like to increase trafficv to their Chat/SMS program, or those in the planning stages for implementing a Live Chat/SMS program.

Our presenters:

Liz Radermacher
Manager, Youthspace.ca

Robyn Romano
Director of Operations, Distress Centre Calgary

Sara Sedlacek
Communications and Development Director, The Crisis Center of Johnson County

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Crafting Effective Crisis Center Messaging and Engaging with the Media

Overview

Interacting with the media and the public about suicide prevention, mental health, and crisis center programming is becoming increasingly important. These topics are becoming more relevant than ever, so it’s critical that you are prepared to communicate your message effectively. During the webinar, we’ll talk about what effective communication for crisis centers looks like – how do you talk about funding or other needs for your crisis center? What sort of materials are you using to communicate these needs? Are you effectively using your social media assets? We’ll also discuss the importance of forming relationships with media outlets and journalists. This webinar will cover some tips on how to effectively communicate aspects of your work and crisis center to increase your visibility in the community and ensure accuracy of reporting. We will also discuss some specific examples of good and bad crisis center and suicide prevention communication materials.

You will learn:

• About effective ways to communicate your crisis center’s work and provide the public information about suicide prevention
• The difference between Good Media and Bad Media reporting on suicide
• How to proactively engage the media
• About some free or low-cost tools to help create effective communications tools

Who should watch:
Crisis Center Program Managers or Directors, and other staff whose role includes public speaking or communications on behalf of their organization.

Our presenters:

Chris Maxwell
Communications Coordinator, American Association of Suicidology

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Developing Volunteer Crisis Worker Competencies

Overview

Many crisis centers use volunteers and struggle to recruit and select qualified candidates. In this webinar, our presenters Laura Mayer, Director of PRS CrisisLink and Liz Barnes, Assistant Director Plans & Policy at the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, will discuss how they developed a competency framework model for volunteer crisis workers, and define ten volunteer crisis worker core competencies. The presentation will include results from the first year of implementing the competencies with data on recruitment, selection, quality of calls, retention, and overall volunteer satisfaction. In addition, Ms. Mayer and Ms. Barnes will provide tools Crisis Centers can use to develop a competency framework to assist with selection criteria to ensure the right workforce is in place to respond to the demand of crisis and suicide prevention services.

You will learn:

• The steps to develop a competency framework for your Crisis Center to assist with recruitment selection criteria
• Techniques to improve the crisis worker selection process
• How to choose competencies for your Crisis Center to increase efficiency and effectiveness

Who should watch:
Crisis or helpline Program Managers or Directors, Volunteer Coordinators, or others involved in the volunteer recruitment and training process

Our presenters:

Laura Mayer
Director, PRS CrisisLink

Liz Barnes
Assistant Director Plans & Policy, Defense Suicide Prevention Office

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Building a United Crisis Line Team in Times of Diverse Need

Overview

Being in the midst of uncertainty and fear can be an uncomfortable state for those who reach out to crisis services as well as those who operate the lines. In recent years, multiple events have led call and chat volume to rise continually and individuals are reaching out for a wider array of issues. In this workshop, we hope to provide tools and strategies to build a united crisis line team in times of diverse need.

Participants will learn to expand their staff/volunteers’ skillset through multidisciplinary trainings to ensure the most vulnerable populations’ needs are met. Secondly, participants will learn how to effectively manage day-to-day operations while supporting the needs of crisis line workers. Lastly, we will discuss how to best use data in conjunction with the expertise of staff to strategically plan for operational and staffing needs. These newly learned tools will accelerate crisis lines’ abilities to balance meeting the increasing demand of people in crisis while caring for a vulnerable team of crisis counselors.

You will learn:

Training

• How to outreach to and collaborate with community partners
• How to incorporate training across multiple platforms (call/chat)
• How to train staff/volunteer counselors in topics of interest

Management and Operations

• How to build community on shift among staff/volunteers
• How to manage call/chat volume to avoid burnout and optimize volume
• How to support staff/volunteer counselors during and after difficult contacts

Strategic Operational Planning

• How to digitalize operations and materials
• How to utilize data and evaluations to inform operational decisions
• How to collaborate with staff on policies and procedures

Who should attend:
Crisis Center or Helpline Directors, Managers, or Supervisors who wish to learn strategies for building morale and uniting their team.

Our presenters:

Rebecca Stock, MFTi
Program Coordinator
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services

Johanna Louie
Online Crisis Services Coordinator
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services

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The Changing Face of Initiating Active Interventions in the Online Space

Overview

This webinar will educate viewers on new and existing online technologies used to mask someone’s identity, and the unique ways that those technologies can act as a barrier between the client/consumer and the agency they’re contacting. The emphasis will be on crisis intervention but many other types of agencies may find this useful as well. We’ll then transition into a discussion about what the future might look like, as well as how crisis centers can fall back on their existing core competencies to work around these barriers.

This webinar will answer the following questions:

• What are VPNs? What is TOR?
• How do people use VPNs and TOR, and what could their usage rates look like in a few years?
• What resources do crisis centers and other agencies have now to deal with these technologies?

Who should attend:
Helpline Supervisors, Managers, Program Directors, and anyone looking to better understand how new technologies can complicate the active intervention process.

Our presenter:

Beau Pinkham, Director of Crisis Intervention Services
The Crisis Center of Johnson County

Beau has been part of the crisis intervention/suicide prevention field since 2002, when he started volunteering at his local crisis line. Subsequent experience being a flood recovery outreach counselor after the devastation of 2008 and working with the homeless population after that led him to a staff position with The Crisis Center of Johnson County, where he currently directs crisis intervention and suicide prevention services. He is a current board member for Contact USA, an accrediting body for crisis centers across the United States, and is part of the American Association of Suicidology’s Strategic Media Response Task Force. He has been involved in panel discussions on the intersection of video games and suicide at SXSW and other conferences, and has presented on how tech trends have affected and will continue to affect crisis intervention services.

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Practicing Effective Management

Overview

At the heart of every thriving behavioral health organization is a strong and well-functioning team, but these teams often do not exist without adaptive leadership and effective management. As the demands on managers increase and access to resources becomes more elusive, the team’s ability to deliver on its performance indicators becomes even more crucial to program success.

This webinar will provide tangible keys to effective management through strong working relationships, performance communication, delegation, and professional growth.

You will:

• Learn the four critical behaviors of effective managers: knowing your people, communicating about performance, pushing work down, and growing your people.
• Understand benefits and challenges of managing people in a mission-driven organization.
• Learn how to proactively address the most common challenges faced by managers, including burnout, turnover, poor communication, and lack of accountability.

Who should attend:
Helpline Supervisors, Managers, and Program Directors

Our presenters:

Sarah Bowman, Associate Consultant, TBD Solutions

Sarah has infused the behavioral health system with infectious energy and a commitment to excellence for over 15 years. Her strong leadership, utilization of data-driven decision making, and focus on outcomes measurement has helped enhance a vast array of behavioral health programs and services. She is a dynamic presenter and trainer, with an excellent track record for building high performing, strengths-based teams.

Travis Atkinson, Associate Consultant, TBD Solutions

Travis has served as a manager and educator for over a decade. A consummate student of management and leadership, Travis has supervised diverse teams and maintains a reputation for getting lasting results and spurring innovation. He has trained hundreds of managers across the Midwest.

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Suicide Prevention through Emergency Department/Crisis Center Partnerships

Overview

Approximately 20% of suicide deaths occur within weeks of visiting an Emergency Department (ED), and a recent study reported that telephonic counseling after ED visits for suicidal ideation or behavior reduced subsequent attempts by 30% compared to enhanced usual care. Such data has sparked discussion in the suicide prevention industry about follow-up care and how partnerships between qualified crisis centers and ED’s can save lives.

Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners (RMCP), the Colorado state hotline, with support from the Colorado Suicide Prevention Commission and SAMHSA, worked with 15 ED’s across the state to take referrals of suicidal individuals being discharged from an ED. Join us as we host crisis clinicians from RMCP for a discussion on this partnership and the successes and challenges they’ve encountered. A representative from the national Lifeline will also join us to discuss how the Lifeline is supporting crisis centers in these efforts.

You will learn:

• An overview of the program including program goals, rationale for the program and recruitment of ED’s
• RMCP’s operational guidelines including why RMCP, purpose of follow up calls and how the program works
• Results including clients’ reports on additional hospital visits, suicide attempts and general information on who is utilizing the program
• Funding recommendations
• Programmatic lessons learned
• How the Lifeline can support network centers in creating, supporting, and sustaining crisis center follow-up programs
• The various resources available via the Follow-Up Matters microsite, including research and data, tools, and examples of current follow-up partnerships between crisis centers and emergency departments
• The current state of follow-up practices in the Lifeline network and the variability of follow-up programs that allow crisis centers to create programs uniquely suited to their centers and community needs

Who should watch:
Crisis Center Directors or Managers who wish to learn more about Crisis Center/ED partnerships for providing follow-up calls to ED patients presenting with suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

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Introduction to Assisting LGBTQ Help Seekers

Overview

Your community is made up of a diverse collection of people all with their own unique concerns and needs, and that includes those who identify as members of the LGBTQ community. Members of these groups are best served when your specialists are educated on their needs, and mindful of and sensitive to the unique challenges and concerns they face.

You will learn:

• The prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide rates among LGBTQ individuals in the US and Canada
• The six step process for Coming Out known as the Cass Identity Model
• Important issues and topics LGBTQ individuals may reach you about
• How to best provide emotional support to LGBTQ individuals
• The differences between the needs of Youth vs. Adults

Who should attend:
Helpline Managers and other staff members who wish to gain a base understanding of LGBTQ issues and learn best practices for helping LGBTQ individuals who reach out to their service for assistance.

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Using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) Tool on Helplines

Overview

Intimate partner violence can occur in any relationship, regardless of gender, marital status, or socioeconomic standing. Those who find themselves in an abusive relationship may feel embarrassment, shame, confusion, and at a loss for who to turn to or what to do.

Helplines of all types have the opportunity to help those experiencing intimate partner violence by assessing a person’s risk, exploring ways to reduce that risk, and directing clients to helpful resources.

Join us for this upcoming webinar to learn more about using and integrating the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) Tool into your helpline service.

You will learn:

• About different types of risk assessments
• The goals of using the SARA risk assessment
• The differences between Dynamic and Static Risk Factors
• What information should be available to complete an assessment
• Ideas for implementing use of this tool at your helpline
• And more!

Who should attend:
Helpline Managers and other staff members who wish to learn more about assessing risk of intimate partner violence to help their clients.

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Introduction to Calculating Social Return on Investment

Overview

When you’re asked about the impact your service has on your clients or community, how do you respond?

You may choose to report your outputs and outcomes, but what’s very powerful, and speaks to funders or investors, is being able to turn intangible outcomes into measurable financial quantities.

Join us for this upcoming webinar to get an introductory course in calculating Social Return on Investment.

You will learn:

• What a Social Return on Investment (SROI) is and why it’s necessary
• How it demonstrates value to your funders
• How to calculate monetary values for items we don’t normally think of in financial terms
• The steps to performing an SROI, from planning to reporting

Who should attend:
Helpline Managers, Executive Directors, or Board Members who want to secure funding by learning how to communicate the monetary value of the impact of services.

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Using Data Repositories to Build Partnerships and Explore New Revenue Streams

Overview

You invest loads of time into building a comprehensive database of community resources in an effort to connect your clients with services that can help them. But, your help-seekers aren’t the only ones interested in this data. Hospitals, healthcare providers, government entities, and others wish to tap into the same data you are curating — and they’re willing to pay you to access it.

In this webinar recording we share iCarol’s vision for creating data repositories that will help you build partnerships, open up new sources of funding, and most important of all, help more people.

You will learn:

• Current commonly used methods of sharing data in the I&R industry
• The challenges of operating within these models
• New methods being used by regional 2-1-1s
• Cloud-based computing and how it applies to partnerships
• Data standards and why a common data language is important
• iCarol’s vendor-neutral vision for leveraging your data to benefit your helpline and your community at large

Who should attend:
Helpline and Information and Referral industry professionals, Executive Directors, and others looking for ways to bring new relevance and funding to their helpline service.

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Texting for Non-Profits: Compliance in a Complex World

Overview

The use of text messaging has grown drastically, it’s no surprise, therefore, that an increasing number of helplines want to use texting to reach the populations they serve. However, even non-profit organizations must be careful to adhere to regulations and relevant industry rules. The effort can be complex, as the rules are continually evolving to protect consumers.

Join us for a focused, one-hour webinar with Neil McKechnie, iCarol’s CEO and co-founder, on the key legal questions facing helplines today when deploying texting.

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CONTACT USA webinar: Changing Times- Bringing Online Emotional Support to your Crisis Intervention Service

Overview

For more than 50 years Crisis Centers have been providing emotional support, crisis intervention and suicide intervention through telephone support. The rapid pace of technology has changed the way people communicate, well beyond the conventional use of the telephone. As social media and the online world have grown, we have seen many people rely on chat and texting to reach out for help to meet their personal needs. Have the services offered by your center moved into the 21st century to meet people where they are at – online?

iCarol is pleased to bring you this webinar presented by Michael Reading, Director of Crisis Services at Crisis Clinic in Seattle, WA and Vice Chair of the CONTACT USA Board of Directors.

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Live Chat/Texting Demo

Overview

Are you exploring adding communication channels like Live Chat or Texting to your not-for-profit? Join us for a live demonstration of how this works in iCarol!

You will learn:

• How iCarol Live Chat and Texting fit seamlessly into the rest of your iCarol system
• Your options for collecting demographic and other information from your Live Chat/Text visitors
• What your Live Chat and Texting “queue” looks like and how to start conversations
• How the conversation with your visitor fits into your Contact Form
• How to search for and provide referrals to your visitor, direct from your iCarol Resource Database
• Ways that post-conversation surveys are used, and how they work in iCarol
• Some of the configuration options available
• Examples of reports you can run using iCarol Statistics

Who should attend: Helpline Managers, Crisis or Suicide Prevention Program Coordinators, Information and Referral/2-1-1 center directors, and staff or directors of other not-for-profit organizations exploring the addition of Live Chat or Texting to their service offerings.

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iCarol Overview

Overview

Are you a director of a non-profit service, looking for a way to streamline your operation? Let us show you how iCarol can help.

In a fast-paced 1 hour overview webinar, we’ll explain how the right software — designed specifically for organizations like yours, and used by more than 80,000 people at non-profits worldwide — can save you time and money.

You’ll find out how iCarol’s contact software takes your call content and live chat service and integrates it with resource referral, scheduling, staff and volunteer management, and reporting to create opportunities to improve your service, productivity, and results.

You will learn how iCarol:

• Integrates the key features of running a helpline, crisis center, and other not-for-profit contact centers
• Connects volunteers with each other and your mission
• Stores volunteer contact info, shift availability, training and certification details, and more right at your fingertips
• Reminds volunteers of their shift commitments and helps fill scheduling holes
• Offers live chat and texting so you can reach more people in need
• Streamlines your reporting – easily run custom reports on ALL of your data
• Meets specific needs with custom contact data collection, collaboration with networked agencies, and more!
• Offers a free trial, and how we can help you get started

Who should watch: Any non-profit director, resource manager, or board member who wants to streamline her or his day-to-day processes.

Watch a recording of this webinar
Click here to start your free trial.

Customer Webinars

Overview

Because iCarol is a web-based service, we’re able to roll out feature enhancements constantly. On a regular basis we share a summary of the top enhancements recently added to your iCarol system.

Participants will learn:

• What enhancements were recently made available in the iCarol software
• Use cases that give you ideas on how these enhancements might be useful at your organization
• Where you can go to learn more about how to enable and use these enhancements

Who should attend: Any iCarol user who would like to learn more about the new and upcoming enhancements to iCarol.

When is it?

Next webinar:3rd Quarter, 2022. We will update this page when we have registration information available!