2019 INDIANA SUICIDE PREVENTION CONFERENCE

Increasing Connectedness and the Will to Live: Strengthening Ties Between Families, Organizations, and Communities

August 2, 2019

8:00 am – 4:30 pm (Central Daylight Time) 

Conference check-in and continental breakfast begins at 7:00 am

The 8/2 Conference will consist of:

• Featured keynote speaker, Academy Award nominated actor and mental health advocate Mariel Hemingway
  
  

• Keynote speaker Lorenzo Lewis, founder and Executive Director of The Confess Project, a non-profit based in Little Rock, which cultivates boys and men of color to be expressive through practical, social, and analytical systems, leading to emotional and mental health awareness
  
  

• Breakout session topics including, among others:

  
  
  
  

      -Loss Survivors and Healing

      -Creating a Suicide Prevention Plan

      -Suicide Prevention Safety Planning

-School-based Upstream Approaches to Suicide Prevention

-Addressing the Issue of Bullying with Today’s Urban Youth

-Enhancing Connectedness with LGBTQ Communities

-Utilizing the Columbia Scale to Close Gaps Between Mental and Physical Health

-Community Connectedness and Agency Collaboration in Working with First Responders

PRE-CONFERENCE

Cultural Competency in Suicide Prevention*

August 1, 2019

1 – 4:30 pm (Central Daylight Time) 

Pre-conference check-in begins at 12:30 pm

Presenter:  Christopher Douse, M.S. Director of Student Success and Engagement, Ivy Tech Community College Fort Wayne

This workshop will explore the importance of developing cultural competency in working with communities of color around the issues of mental health and suicide. Participants will learn tools they can utilize in their work with people of color. They will develop and awareness and learn about their responsibility to respect and tolerate cultural differences but to also confront racism, classism, ageism, sexism, homophobia, and other kinds of biases and discrimination that occur in health care settings.

Over the course of this workshop, participants will:

• Develop an understanding of cultural competency
• Learn the foundation of cross-cultural communication
• Develop an awareness of how trauma and sociocultural factors influence patients of color and the clinical relationship
• Develop an understanding of the cultural aspects values around mental health and suicide in communities of color
• Develop a respect and tolerance for cultural differences
• Learn of their responsibility to combat racism, classism, ageism, sexism, homophobia, and other kinds of biases and discrimination that occur in health care settings

Target Audience:

This workshop is designed for all mental health and health care professionals who work with communities on issues of mental health and suicide at any level. 

July 31 and August 1, 2019

8:30 am – 4:30 pm (Central Daylight Time)  

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid, brought to you by the Indiana Chapter of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants do not need any formal training to attend the workshop—anyone 16 or older can learn and use the ASIST model.

Since its development in 1983, ASIST has received regular updates to reflect improvements in knowledge and practice, and over 1,000,000 people have taken the workshop. Studies show that the ASIST method helps reduce suicidal feelings in those at risk and is a cost-effective way to help address the problem of suicide.

Over the course of their two-day workshop, ASIST participants learn to:

• Understand the ways that personal and societal attitudes affect views on suicide and interventions
• Provide guidance and suicide first aid to a person at risk in ways that meet their individual safety needs
• Identify the key elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions required to implement it
• Appreciate the value of improving and integrating suicide prevention resources in the community at large
• Recognize other important aspects of suicide prevention including life-promotion and self-care

Workshop features:

• Presentations and guidance from two LivingWorks registered trainers
•  A scientifically proven intervention model
• Powerful audiovisual learning aids
• Group discussions
• Skills practice and development
• A balance of challenge and safety

ASIST helps to build regional networks of trained caregivers who can support each other and use common terminology to approach suicide and safety.

Please register only if you can meet these requirements, as space is limited. Registration is required, and no walk in’s will be accepted. 

COST:  The ASIST training is being offered at this discounted rate due to the generous donations from the Hoosier Out of the Darkness Walks put on by the Indiana Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

July 17 – July 24:  $60

No registrations accepted after July 24^th