FEDERAL, STATE, AND PRIVATE ACTIVITIES

Tennessee

Description:

Tennessee Voices for Children and the Nashville Community Youth Suicide Action Council propose to implement a comprehensive gatekeeper youth suicide prevention initiative using a community-wide collaboration that increases community awareness, enhances caregiver knowledge and intervention skills, and accurately identifies the resources and challenges in addressing youth suicide. LivingWorks, an evidence-based suicide prevention program has been selected since youth are more likely to turn to peers or adults they trust - gatekeepers.

Mental health professionals are not necessarily the individuals suicidal youth approach in times of crisis. As noted above, youth are more likely to seek out trusted peers and adults in times of crisis. The initial point of contact is critical in a suicidal. It is a time when recognition of suicidal considerations and/or behavior is crucial, and appropriate intervention essential. To this end, the TVC directed Nashville Community Youth Suicide Action Council has decided to implement two suicide prevention/intervention gatekeeper programs developed by LivingWorks Education (Calgary, Canada). Gatekeeper training is among the recommendations in the Surgeon General's National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. The community project proposes to extend gatekeeper training to include high school and college-age students. Training youth gatekeepers is a natural extension given the proclivity of youth to discuss their personal problems talk with trusted peers.

The LivingWorks program consist of a half-day Suicide Awareness program and a five day (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training - ASIST) intensive, interactive, practicedominated, train -the-tral ner course designed to develop carecriver recognition and estimation of the seventy of suicidal risk and identification of appropriate intervention strategies to mediate immediate risk of suicide. These programs have been systematically implemented in Canada, Australia, California, Washincyton, rural southern Oreaon, and in several other locations in the United States. ASIST is recognized as the best-attended and well-researched gatekeeper training in the world (Centers for Disease Control, 1992). ASIST has five learning modules that (1) set the tone, norms and expectation of the ASIST learning experience; (2) sensitizes participants to their own attitudes toward suicide, creates an understanding of the impact that personal attitudes have on the intervention process; (3) provides participants with the knowledge and skills to recognize and estimate the risk of suicide; (4) presents a model for effective suicide prevention/intervention; and, (5) generates -information about resources in the local community to transform local resources into helping networks.