Comprehensive Suicide Prevention: Meeting the Mandates of HB 1583

Date:  Thursday, October 26, 2017

Check-in:  8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Workshop:  8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Due to the change of location, there will be no charge to the district and breakfast will not be served.

Workshop Address:
Community of Christ
1001 W. Walnut
Independence, MO  64050

Change of Location:
Park Hill School District
Gerner Early Education Center
8100 N Congress Ave.
Kansas City MO, 64152

House Bill 1583 mandates that teachers complete up to two hours of training in youth suicide awareness and prevention starting in the 2017–2018 school year and annually thereafter. School districts will also be required to develop comprehensive suicide and bully prevention policies by 2018-2019.

Teacher training is one small component of a comprehensive suicide and bully prevention program, therefore it is imperative for districts to prepare for the mandates of HB 1583 by initially developing policies that include prevention, intervention and postvention strategies.

This workshop will focus on the latest evidence-based strategies for school suicide prevention that include teacher and parent gatekeeper training; the relationship between suicide, bullying and non-suicidal self injury and its impact on policy; depression screening; and safe messaging about suicide for district public information officers.

Suicide intervention policies and procedures include the duties and responsibilities of school safety/crisis teams; suicide risk assessment, notifying parents, utilizing safety planning; re-entry conferences when students return from hospitalization; and collaborating with law enforcement and local community mental health agencies.

Suicide postvention guidelines include best practice strategies for responding in the aftermath of a student or staff death by suicide; limiting contagion; identifying and referring at-risk youth, communicating the multifaceted role of staff; responding to parent impact; working with media and social media; and providing appropriate ways to memorialize students who die by suicide.

Presenters:

Scott Poland EdD, NCSP is a Professor at College of Psychology and the Co-Director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office at Nova Southeastern University.  Dr. Poland is a licensed psychologist and an internationally recognized expert on youth suicide, school crisis and parenting in challenging times. He has authored or co-authored five books and many chapters and articles on these subjects. In 2015, Routledge published his fifth book, Suicide in Schools.  Dr. Poland co-authored the Suicide Safer Schools Plan for the state of Texas and he previously directed psychological services for a large Texas school system for 24 years.  Dr. Poland is a past President of the National Association of School Psychologists and a past Prevention Division Director of American Association of Suicidology.  He is very dedicated to prevention and has testified about the mental health needs of children before the U.S. Congress on four occasions. He is a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team and has personally assisted school communities after many tragedies.

Richard Lieberman MA, NCSP is a Lecturer in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University and from 1986-2011 he coordinated Suicide Prevention Services for Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the US. Mr. Lieberman is co-author of School Crisis Prevention and Intervention: the PREPaRE Model and Best Practices in Suicide Intervention (2014, 2008 & 2002) for the National Association of School Psychologists. He has co-authored numerous book chapters on suicide and crisis intervention in the schools; consulted nationally with districts experiencing suicide clusters; served on the Steering Committee for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and contributed to both the SAMHSA Preventing Suicide and SPRC/AFSP After a Suicide toolkits for schools.