Umatter® For Schools
Virtual Youth Suicide Prevention Training
New Cohort Fall 2022
Four Week
Virtual Training
The Umatter® for Schools Suicide Prevention national best practice program for suicide prevention is supported by funding from the Vermont Department of Mental Health, and Agency of Education AWARE Grant.
UPDATED CONTENT & NEW DESIGN!
This newly designed online training consists of meetings and coursework over 4 weeks. The Umatter® for Schools Suicide Prevention national best practice program for suicide prevention was developed by the Center for Health and Learning. Umatter® can be adapted to state contexts and to meet statute requirements. The training has routinely been offered to school staff in grades 7-12, and we will also be including K-6 specific content.
Audience: Schools are encouraged to send teams with a minimum of two people consisting of a guidance counselor, nurse, health educator, mental health provider, and/or administrator. We advise you to include at least one decision maker in your school team. Schools who have sent teams in the past are encouraged to send newly hired or assigned staff to support mental health and suicide prevention strategies in the school.
At the end of this training, teams and participants will have:
- Deepened their understanding of identifying risk factors and warning signs;
- Developed knowledge, skill set and competencies in facilitation of conversations about suicide prevention and their responses;
- Completed the Gatekeeper and Training of Trainers, both part of the learning modules and practice sessions;
- Planned to provide a parent and/or staff suicide prevention awareness session;
- Created and shared a prevention protocol;
- Created and shared a postvention protocol;
- Shared their plan for implementation at the school level;
- Reported on how staff and community training sessions went. What was challenging? Helpful? What do you need more of?
- Developed a plan for implementation of Lifelines or other suicide prevention curriculum.
