Reviving Traditions to Bring About Balance- Cultural Based Programming

This month’s Tribal Learning Collaborative topic will focus on recognizing the spirit of suicide and using cultural beliefs from the community to bring about Wellness. Participants will: Recognize the value of cultural ways of knowing and doing as part of a comprehensive suicide prevention approach, learn techniques that helped change the conversation for a specific community, and acknowledge that evaluation can support cultural programming in the prevention of suicide.

Webinar Presentation Notes

Audio Recording

Promoting Connectedness to Prevent Suicide

Evaluations of interventions directed toward preventing suicidal behavior have shown that promoting connectedness is a promising suicide prevention strategy. Connectedness to others, including family members, teachers, coworkers, community organizations, and social institutions, is an important protective factor. Positive relationships can help increase a person’s sense of belonging, foster a sense of personal worth, and provide access to sources of support.

During this webinar, participants will learn why and how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made connectedness promotion a central focus of its suicide prevention efforts. In addition, presenters will describe programs that have promoted connectedness within specific populations including: older adults, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and African American youth. 

By the end of the webinar participants will:

  1. Recognize the rationale for promoting connectedness as a suicide prevention strategy
  2. Define factors that can increase connectedness in various settings
  3. Identify ways to implement this suicide prevention strategy within their own communities

Additional resources to be referenced during the webinar:

Event Presenter(s)

Presenter(s): 

Deb Stone, ScD, MSW, MPH, Behavioral Scientist, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Sean Joe, PhD, LMSW, Associate Professor, School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan

Kimberly Van Orden, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center

Dolores Subia BigFoot, PhD, (Enrolled Member-Caddo Nation of Oklahoma), Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Presenter Biographies: 

Dolores Subia BigFoot, PhD, is an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and an Assistant Professor in the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She directs the Indian Country Child Trauma Center, part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and provides consultation, training, and technical assistance to tribal, state, and federal agencies on child maltreatment, child trauma, and cultural issues. Dr. BigFoot is recognized for bringing traditional and spiritual practices and beliefs into the formal teaching and instruction of American Indian people and professionals working with Indigenous populations. Some of her accomplishments include directing Project Making Medicine, a national clinical training program built on the cultural adaptations of evidence based interventions; developing an American Indian parent training program, and authoring publications on topics ranging from child protection to cross cultural training for the Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Department of Justice. She also provides clinical services in treatment of adolescent sex offenders and Parent Child Interaction Therapy.

Kim Van Orden, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from Florida State University, with an emphasis on interpersonal processes in suicidal behavior, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Rochester focused on geriatric mental health. Her research addresses the role of social connectedness in the etiology and prevention of late-life suicide, in particular, applying the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide to understand the mechanisms of late-life suicide prevention. She is co-author of the book, The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide: Guidance for Working with Suicidal Clients, and is the Project Director and Co-Investigator on an on-going randomized trial of peer companionship for older adults that examines social connectedness as a mechanism for reducing suicide risk.  Dr. Van Orden maintains an active clinical practice providing cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy to older adults.

Sean Joe, PhD, LMSW, holds a joint position as Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan’s School of Medicine. He is the Founder and Director of the Emerging Scholars Interdisciplinary Network (ESIN) and the Associate Director for Research and Training at the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research.  Dr. Joe’s current research focuses on the role of religion in Black American suicidal behavior, adolescent mental health service use patterns, and salivary biomarkers for adolescent suicidal behavior. He has published in the areas of suicide, violence, and firearm-related violence.  Dr. Joe also serves on the scientific advisory board of the National Organization of People of Color Against Suicide, and co-chairs ESIN’S Working Group on Race, Culture, and Suicide, a national interdisciplinary group of researchers committed to advancing suicide research on populations of color. Dr. Joe is the 2009 recipient of the Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology, the 2008 recipient of the Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research, and was inducted as a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and the 2012 Roundtable on Science in Social Work.

Deborah M. Stone, ScD, MSW, MPH, serves as a Behavioral Scientist in the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  She received her doctoral degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, a joint Master’s degree in social work and public health, and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. As a fellow in the CDC’s Public Health Prevention Service, Dr. Stone worked for two years at the Rhode Island Department of Health where she led efforts to develop the first statewide strategy for youth suicide prevention. From 2001-2007, she served as Project Director for the federally-funded National Center for Suicide Prevention Training, developing online suicide prevention workshops for health and mental health officials, providers, and community based coalitions. From 2007 to 2010, Dr. Stone consulted on suicide prevention with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Her research interests include the role of social connectedness in suicide prevention, and risk and protective factors of suicidal behavior among sexual minority youth.

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Webinar Recording

To live to see the great day that dawns: Preventing suicide by American Indian and Alaska Native youth and young adults

Webinar Presentation

Understanding Evidence for Suicide Prevention: CDC’s R2P Interactive Tool to Support Evidence-Based Decision Making

Understanding Evidence is a new, interactive web resource developed by CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention that supports public health practitioners in making evidence-informed decisions. The goal of evidence-based decision making is to bring a high standard of research evidence into the decision-making process while taking into account the contextual and experiential factors that influence decisions. This webinar will also provide real-world scenarios illustrating how practitioners, coalitions, and evaluators can use the tool to strengthen practice and evaluation of suicide prevention strategies.

Objectives: In this webinar, participants working to prevent suicide will learn how to:

  1. Define the multiple forms of evidence involved in evidence-based decision making
  2. Identify standards of rigor for best available research evidence
  3. Identify sources of and ways to collect best available research evidence, contextual evidence, and experiential evidence
  4. Identify key stages and characteristics of an evidence-based decision making process

Event Presenter(s)

Presenter(s): 

Phil Rodgers, PhD, Evaluation Scientist, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Natalie Wilkins, PhD, Health Scientist, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Sally Thigpen, MPA, Health Scientist, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Angelita Lee, Research Assistant/Case Manager, White Mountain Apache, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health

Presenter Biographies: 

Philip Rodgers, PhD, is an Evaluation Scientist for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For the past nine years, he has managed the Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention in collaboration with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. The Best Practices Registry provides a listing of suicide prevention programs, policies, tools, and materials, which have been reviewed and approved by experts in the field. Dr. Rodgers has given numerous presentations and workshops regarding suicide prevention and the evaluation of suicide prevention programs. He earned his undergraduate degree in experimental psychology from California State University Los Angeles and his doctorate in research and evaluation methodology from Utah State University.

Natalie Wilkins, PhD, joined CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) in 2008, and has been a behavioral scientist in NCIPC since 2010.  Her work has focused primarily on dissemination and implementation research, program evaluation, technical assistance and capacity building at the state and local level, and knowledge translation for bridging research and practice within the context of injury and violence prevention. She has worked on numerous child maltreatment, youth violence, and suicide prevention projects, as well as efforts to identify links between multiple forms of violence, injury, and other public health outcomes. Natalie received her BA in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Richmond, and her MA and PhD in Community Psychology from Georgia State University.

Sally Thigpen, MPA, is a Health Scientist with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She provides support across the Center for translation activities with specific expertise in actionable knowledge. Prior to her CDC position, Sally was Associate Director of Programs for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia. In this role she managed various programs including Stop It Now! Georgia, a statewide child sexual abuse prevention initiative, and 1-800-CHILDREN, Georgia’s only toll-free, statewide helpline with a primary focus on preventing family violence and child maltreatment.  Sally has over 15 years of practice and policy experience, and her work has influenced the shift toward primary prevention at both the state and national levels. She is a champion for collaborative efforts to prevent violence – most notably by bringing together non-traditional partners around family and community responsibility for healthy relationships and child well-being.  Most recently, Sally has worked in NCIPC with a focus on building processes for more rapid translation of research for practice, actionable knowledge, and practice-to-research strategies.   Sally received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Agnes Scott College and a Master of Public Administration from the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University.

Angelita Lee is a Research Assistant for Johns Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health.  Ms. Lee has worked on the Celebrating Life project geared toward suicidal ideations, suicide attempts and self injurious behavior.  She has worked in community settings and with families of individuals who made suicide attempts, delivering life skills curriculumn adapted for the community she serves.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Presentation

Tribal Suicide Prevention Codes: A Community Based Approach (Tribal Learning Collaborative)

There are many issues underlying suicide in Indian Country—alcoholism, family violence, child abuse/neglect, depression, and unemployment. Some tribal codes address these issues, but few codes exist for tribal suicide prevention. By fostering partnerships of local community leaders, people can be empowered to identify local problems and participate actively in devising and implementing local solutions.The webinar will offer participants the opportunity to hear directly from on-the-ground implementers who will discuss how they fostered partnerships to address local policy/procedures, implementation of a Tribal surveillance system, and modifications to Juvenile Justice Codes.

Webinar Presentation Slides

Handout 1

Handout 2

A Strategic Approach to Suicide Prevention in High Schools

This webinar provided an overview of the research on school-based suicide prevention programs and identified resources that can be helpful in developing and implementing your own program.  In addition, it offered examples of how two states developed programs to prevent suicide in a variety of school systems, including those serving ethnically diverse students. While this webinar focused on high schools, some of the information may be applicable to any grade level.  

Objectives: In this webinar, participants working to prevent suicide learned how to:

  • Explain how a strategic approach to suicide prevention can be used in high schools
  • Identify resources for use as part of a strategic approach (e.g., Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools)
  • Describe the efforts of two states to be strategic and culturally appropriate in their approach to school-based suicide prevention.

Additional Resources:

This video features Kentucky school principals, staff and parents who have experienced suicide loss, including suicide contagion in the school, and steps schools can take to reduce suicide and suicide attempts among their students. This video can be used with staff training, but is not appropriate for youth or children. To access a copy of the video itself, please contact Jan Ulrich (jan.ulrich@ky.gov).

Event Presenter(s)

Presenter(s): 

Phil Rodgers, PhD, Evaluation Scientist, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Chris Miara, MS, Director of Operations and Resources, Suicide Prevention Resource Center

Patricia Breux, RN, BSN, Youth Prevention Specialist, Suicide Prevention Center of New York State

Jan Ulrich, State Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health

Patti Clark, MBA, CPS, Project Coordinator, Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health

Moderator: 

Rosalyn Blogier, LCSW-C, SAMHSA Public Health Advisor

Presenter Biographies: 

Philip Rodgers, PhD, is an Evaluation Scientist for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For the past nine years, he has managed the Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention in collaboration with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. The Best Practices Registry provides a listing of suicide prevention programs, policies, tools, and materials, which have been reviewed and approved by experts in the field. Dr. Rodgers has given numerous presentations and workshops regarding suicide prevention and the evaluation of suicide prevention programs. He earned his undergraduate degree in experimental psychology from California State University Los Angeles and his doctorate in research and evaluation methodology from Utah State University.

Chris Miara, MS, is a Senior Project Director at the Education Development Center, Inc., with many years’ experience planning, implementing, and evaluating government-funded programs to prevent injuries, violence, and suicide. She is Director of Operations and Resources at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. In collaboration with the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors and with funding from SAMHSA, Ms. Miara also played a key role in the development of “Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools.

Pat Breux, RN, BSN, is the Youth Prevention Specialist at the Suicide Prevention Center of New York (www.PreventSuicideNY.org), which is an agency of the New York State Office of Mental Health Suicide Prevention Initiative.  In her role at the Center, she provides training, consultation and access to research and best practices in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention to schools and youth serving organizations across the state.  Her work in Chemung County received National recognition from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration with a Science and Service Award in 2008.  She received the Advocate of the Year Award from Families Together in NYS in 2009 and the Excellence in Education Award from the Western NY Chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in 2010.  She is a certified SafeTALK, CONNECT Postvention and QPR trainer, a Master Trainer of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and a provider of Lifelines trilogy of trainings.  She is the lead developer of “Creating Suicide Safety in Schools Workshop” which has been endorsed by the New York Association of School Psychologists.

Jan Ulrich is the State Suicide Prevention Coordinator with the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. Jan has been involved with suicide prevention and awareness efforts on a national, state and local basis since 2002, after the issue of suicide touched her family very personally.  She was a member of the Kentucky Suicide Prevention Group (KSPG) from 2002 to 2007, and served on the KSPG board for several years prior to her employment with BH/DID in 2007.  Jan has been a certified QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainer since 2004 and a QPR Master Trainer (T4T).  She is a recipient of NAMI KY Prevention Partner Award, and Mental Health America of KY Advocacy Award for her work in suicide prevention.  Jan is also the founder of the Suicide Prevention Consortium of Kentucky (SPCK – Live Long).

Patti Clark, MBA, CPS, is currently the project coordinator for Kentucky’s Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant, under the Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health.  The Suicide Prevention Efforts for Adolescents in Kentucky focuses on suicide prevention efforts for youth and the families in the state with emphasis on school-based implementation, LGBTQ suicide prevention and resilience development, and suicide prevention for military personnel and their families. She is a certified prevention specialist.

Prior to working in suicide prevention, she was a project coordinator for Kentucky’s Underage Drinking Strategic Prevention Framework project in Owen County, Kentucky where binge drinking among high school youth was reduced by 36% over a two-year period. She is a SPF master trainer and co-wrote the evaluation portion of Kentucky’s SPF manual. She also teaches the needs assessment portion (Step 1) of Prevention Academy for the state.

Prior to her work in prevention, Patti was a newspaper publisher and community advocate, organizing a variety of events and activities and bringing together community members to address issues. 

She is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University (BA Journalism) and Sullivan University (MBA). She is currently working on her Master of Divinity degree at Luther Rice University in Atlanta.

Rosalyn (Roz) Blogier, LCSW-C, is a licensed clinical social worker with a wide range of experiences in child welfare, adoption, community mental health, substance abuse, out-patient psychotherapy and wellness programming. She became a Public Health Advisor with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 2008 and currently serves as the coordinator for the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program.

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Webinar Recording

The Role of High School Teachers in Preventing Suicide

The Role of High School Mental Health Providers in Preventing Suicide

Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools

View Q&A with Webinar Panelists

Keeping Youth Safe: Reducing Access to Lethal Means

Restricting access to lethal means is one component of a comprehensive approach to reducing the risk of suicide. Join us during this webinar to learn about the evidence behind this approach to suicide prevention and hear examples from two campus communities that have successfully implemented means restriction strategies, such as a medication take-back program and limiting access to tall structures. This will be an interactive webinar incorporating time for attendees to ask questions of presenters and participate in discussion.

Webinar Presentation Slides

Gouveia Webinar Presentation Slides

Brownson Webinar Presentation Slides

Handout 1

Reaching Our Vision – Tribal Learning Collaborative

This month’s topic will be an open discussion among participants with a focus towards the future. Perhaps there’s something that you have been struggling with, or you are just not sure how to incorporate a new approach into your already existing comprehensive plan.