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Suicide Prevention and Risk Management

For students experiencing suicidality

TRAILS Suicide Prevention and Risk Management helps schools build policies that reduce stigma, encourage help-seeking, and ensure students at risk of suicide receive the care they need. This program begins with training in the use of our Suicide Prevention Guide: a comprehensive handbook that orients school leaders and staff to current best practices, and provides them with an evidence-based protocol for navigating student suicide risk.

The TRAILS Suicide Risk Management Protocol:

  • Was collaboratively developed by psychiatric care experts, school partners, and members of the TRAILS clinical team
  • Provides school staff with a clear set of steps for responding to signs of suicidality in students

Why use a risk management protocol?

Many referrals to hospital emergency departments are avoidable.

Accurate assessment of suicide risk helps reduce unnecessary referrals – limiting strain on students, families, and the healthcare system.

When schools and community mental health providers communicate effectively, students receive more informed and more efficient care.

Better information-sharing helps providers understand students’ needs, while keeping schools up to date about the students they refer.

Risk management protocols save lives.

When schools work to build a strong referral system, they are building a safer community for each and every student.

Program Close-Up

4 audience-specific training options:

For school administrators and executive leadership

For school mental health professionals (such as school social workers, counselors, or psychologists)

For teachers and support staff

For families and community members

TRAILS Suicide Prevention and Risk Management helps schools choose and implement effective suicide policies that fall into 3 essential categories:

Prevention:

Providing suicide education for staff, students, and families, and building a culture of connectedness schoolwide

Intervention:

Identifying students who are experiencing suicidality, working with them to complete an evidence-based suicide risk assessment, and collaborating with external mental health providers to coordinate their care

Postvention:

Communicating thoughtfully and providing access to grief support when a member of the school community dies by suicide

How to get started

TRAILS Suicide Prevention and Risk Management materials are:

  • Available to designated staff at our Tier 3 partner schools

Leaders at our partner schools receive:

  • Support in developing an implementation plan that best meets the needs of their school community

Staff at our partner schools receive:

  • Suicide prevention training appropriate to their roles
  • Access to best practice workshops, newsletters, and a growing library of Tier 3 resources
“I have completed more safety plans, threat assessments in the past few months than I have in the past few years. Thank you for focusing on and teaching us this valuable info - now, more than ever!”
School Mental Health Professional

Interested in partnering with us?

We currently work with schools in Michigan, Colorado, and Massachusetts, and welcome the opportunity to explore additional partnerships in these states. While our capacity for other partnerships is limited at this time, we welcome potential partners who are located elsewhere to reach out to us so that we can reconnect when TRAILS expansions occur. Send us a message.

Regardless of partnership status, we are proud to offer open access to numerous materials free of charge, including select Suicide Prevention and Risk Management Resources. To access free TRAILS materials, create an account.