AS+K? Workshop
AS+K? About Suicide to Save a Life teaches community partners and stakeholders to recognize the warning signs, clues, and suicidal communications of people in psychological distress and identify what action to take to prevent a possible tragedy. AS+K? About Suicide to Save a Life Workshops are two to three-hour workshops designed for persons who work and/or interact with youth, adults, Veterans, and others who may be at risk of suicide.
The AS+K? program provides workshop participants with an overview of safe messaging, the basic epidemiology of suicide, the public health approach to suicide prevention, risk and protective factors and warning signs often associated with suicide. Participants are trained to identify warning signs, language, behaviors, and characteristics that might indicate elevated risk for suicidal behavior, how to ask a person if they might be thinking about suicide, and actions to take to connect the person to qualified care. Role plays are used to develop skills on how to ask about suicidal thoughts, feelings, or intentions.
AS+K? also trains participants on how to respond to someone expressing direct suicidal communication and how to connect them to clinical care or other resources. Workshop participants also receive an overview of suicide prevention efforts in their state and how to become connected to opportunities to support these efforts in their community. Referral information includes the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, other national crisis lines such as Veterans Crisis Line, Trans Lifeline, the Trevor Project, Disaster Distress Helpline, and AgriStress, as well as state and local resources.
AS+K? About Suicide is a best practice-informed gatekeeper training as a Tier III in the former BPR. AS+K? teaches participants key risk and protective factors for suicide, warning signs, and appropriate referral strategies. This two-hour workshop is delivered by workshop leaders specifically trained to provide this support to their communities. Over 450 workshop leaders are available across Texas. We will be happy to connect you to someone close by!
The objectives of this training are to equip participants to
- Know the basic information about suicide prevalence, risk and protective factors, and warning signs
- Understand the role of the gatekeeper in suicide prevention
- Understand that suicide can generally be prevented from the public health perspective
- Have the confidence to respond
- Connect someone at risk to qualified care in their community and to state and national resources
We provide a number of learning strategies, including discussion, lecture, role plays, and interactive gaming.
Agenda
- Introduction and Workshop Overview
- Epidemiology of Suicide
- Public Health Approach to Suicide Prevention
- AS+K? Gatekeeper Model and Practice
- Conclusion, Evaluation, and Q&A
It is important to know that this training involves prolonged discussion about topics related to suicide and may be difficult for some. The AS+K? Workshop also involves practice sessions for participants to obtain hands-on experience with the AS+K? model We would be happy to walk you through the curriculum and exercises in advance. Please email admin@texassuicideprevention.org.
If you would like to locate a workshop leader in your region, please use our contact form and indicate your location (city and zip code), and we will work to match you with a qualified provider.
