2018 Suicide Prevention Summit

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The LA County Suicide Prevention Network and its members work each year to coordinate the Los Angeles County Suicide Prevention Summit, which occurs annually in September. Each event highlights different perspective, best practices and populations to help attendees better understand the role they can play in suicide prevention.

The 2018 Suicide Prevention Summit took place at the California Endowment on September 6, 2018.

The Hero in Each of Us: Finding Your Role in Suicide Prevention

To address suicide prevention using a public health approach, everyone in our communities needs to understand what role they can play. Before we can find our role, we first need to find our passion. The goal of the 2018 Suicide Prevention Summit was to help you as a person, as a professional, and as a friend or family member, gain a better understanding of the landscape of suicide prevention so you can see where you fit in, and then give you the skills to assist people in finding their reasons for living.

View Summit Program

 

The National Landscape: Five Key Things You Should Know to Make Your Suicide Prevention Efforts More Effective

Ellyson Stout, Director, Suicide Prevention Resource Center

The keynote presentation provided an overview of the latest best practice and national guidance for effective suicide prevention. Participants learned about the latest tools for community-based suicide prevention, strategies and principles that should be part of prevention efforts, as well as resources and guidance that exist for different settings and professionals. The essential ingredients of starting with available data, using a combination of strategies for prevention, and establishing broad partnerships and community engagement will be highlighted. An example from the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention was featured to model partnerships with new and nontraditional sectors for suicide prevention. These broad concepts were incorporated into five core elements to help participants make their local prevention efforts as effective as possible.

 

The Hero in Each of Us: Finding Your Role in Suicide Prevention

A panel of individuals representing local organizations will shared inspiration about how they have integrated suicide prevention into their work. The panel was moderated by Stan Collins.

 

Workshop: Suicide Risk Assessment and Safety Planning for Everyone: How You Can Help

This presentation provided a brief overview of suicide and how to recognize a person with suicidal thoughts, determine the level of risk, and collaborate in safety planning. The presenters focused on skill building for conducting suicide risk screening and assessment utilizing the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), as well as administration of the Safety Planning Intervention (SPI). Participants learned how suicide risk screening can inform someone’s risk level, which in turn will guide the steps in safety planning. Presenters:  Shawn Silverstein, Ph.D. and Sandri Kramer

For questions about this workshop email: Sandri Kramer (SKramer@didihirsch.org) or Shawn Silverstein (Silverstein@didihirsch.org)

 

Workshop:  Means Restriction and Means Safety for Preventing Suicide

This workshop focused on means restriction which has proven to be one of the most effective and evidence-based forms of suicide prevention. Participants were exposed to the principles behind means restriction as well as practical applications and best practices around the topic. Presenter:  Anara Guard

For questions about this workshop email: anara@anaraguard.com

 

Workshop:  Messaging Matters

How we message around suicide and suicide prevention can impact public perceptions around the preventability of suicide. Research has demonstrated that positive messages about suicide can decrease risk of suicide behaviors while negative messaging can have the inverse effect. This workshop familiarized participants with key messaging principles related to suicide prevention including information about recommendations for reporting on suicide, appropriate terminology, and resources to utilize when crafting suicide prevention related messages.  Presenters:  Ellyson Stout and Stan Collins

For questions about this workshop email:  stan@suicideispreventable.org

 

Workshop:  After a Suicide: A Guide for Coordinated Community and School Postvention Response

This workshop explored principles related to responding to a suicide death in the community and school setting. Knowing that a suicide death can have a varied and often negative impact on the survivors of suicide loss, combined with most recent estimates suggesting that upwards of 100 individuals are impacted by each suicide death, it is vital that communities and schools are positioned to respond effectively and appropriately when suicide deaths occur. Presenters: Sandra Black, MSW and Laurel Bear, Ed.D.

For questions about this workshop email:  sandra@suicideispreventable.org