CONF10012 - ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
Course Description
Learn the skills to provide a suicide first-aid intervention, work with someone to develop a personalized safety plan to keep safe-for-now, and connect with further help.
The Challenge
Every year more people die by suicide than from all of the several armed conflicts around the work and, in many places, about the same or more than those dying in traffic accidents. For every suicide, there may be up to 100 times more who are injured by non-fatal suicidal behaviours. In any year, as many as 6% of the population have serious thoughts of suicide. How can further deaths and injuries be prevented? How can we support people to choose life when something prevents them from seeing a way forward?
The Opportunity
Most people considering suicide share their distress and their intent. Training can help us see and respond to these invitations to help. It can give you the confidence to ask about suicide if you are concerned about someone's safety. It can provide you with the tools to help prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Create a life-assisting community... it begins with you. The benefits live on.
The Workshop
ASIST provides practical training for caregivers seeking to prevent the immediate risk of suicide.
Participants often include:
- people concerned about family, friends
- natural helpers and advisors
- emergency service workers
- counsellors, teachers and ministers
- mental health practitioners
- workers in health, welfare or justice
- community volunteers
Working mainly in small groups, ASIST uses many different teaching processes to create a practice-oriented and interactive learning experience.
The Outcome
The emphasis of the ASIST workshop is on suicide first aid, on helping a person at risk stay safe and seek further help. Attendance at the full two days is mandatory.
Learn how to:
- recognize invitations for help
- reach out and offer support
- review the risk of suicide
- apply a suicide intervention model
- link people with community resources
Evaluations have shown that the workshop increases caregivers' knowledge and confidence to respond to a person at risk of suicide, that intervention skills are retained over time and that they are put to use to save lives.