Responding to mental health crises and the risk of suicide in a school setting presents unique challenges and considerations for mental health practitioners, educators, and parents. Suicidal thoughts do not discriminate and can affect anyone. Suicide rates have been continuously rising since 2007 and are now ranked as the 10th leading cause of death in 2017 for all age ranges and ranked second among youth ages 10-24 (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). During this free, three-part series, we will address suicide prevention awareness; school-appropriate response and screening referral practices for youth experiencing suicidal ideation and/or intent; postvention as well as supports and safety planning after the child returns to school.
Session 1: Suicidal Awareness in the School Setting (September 12, 2022)
Learning Objectives:
Identify common risk and protective factors for youth at risk of suicide.
Identify warning signs for youth at risk of suicide.
Increase awareness of the myths and stigma behind suicide
Session 2: School-Appropriate Response and Screening Practices (September 19, 2022)
Learning Objectives
Learn how to have conversations about suicide and interact with a youth in crisis
Learn practical screening tips
Recognize levels of suicide ideation and risk
Learn best responses to identified risk level
Session 3: School Supports, Safety Planning (September 26, 2022)
Learning Objectives
Learn basic components of safety planning using an interdisciplinary approach
Learn best practices for postvention
Erin Briley, M.S., NCSP
Erin Briley is the School Mental Health Coordinator for the Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network (MHTTC) and a Technical Assistant Associate for WICHE’s Behavioral Health Program. As the school mental health lead, her work focuses on providing intensive technical assistance, resources, and training school staff to support school-based mental health. As a Technical Assistant Associate, her work is primarily focused on assisting in creating and implementing Psychology Internship Consortiums in rural western states. Ms. Briley has over 20 years of experience working in the schools, serving primarily as a school psychologist for school districts in California, Hawaii, and Colorado while providing direct and indirect supports for children ages 3 through 22 of all developmental levels. Ms. Briley has also served temporarily as a special education and a School Based Behavioral Health program administrator and trained and supervised paraprofessionals providing individualized supports to children with special needs. Ms. Briley has extensive experience with psycho-educational evaluations, classroom, and individual behavioral management, conducting Functional Behavioral Assessments, creating Behavioral Support Plans, special education legal mandates, and rights related to IDEA and Section 504, and learning needs accommodations to support. Ms. Briley earned her Bachelor’s in Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University, her Master’s in Counseling/School Psychology and a Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis at California State University Los Angeles and is working on her PhD (ABD) in Clinical Psychology; she is also a Nationally Certified School Psychologist.
