April 1, 2020

Noelle Rivard and Krista Steinbeisser are third year occupational therapy (OT) students at the University of North Dakota. On September 13, 2019, they both attended an event on campus hosted by the Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. The training was titled, Suicide Prevention Training: Presentation and Panel Discussion for University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences Students and Faculty.

The workshop included a panel of health professionals who have expertise in suicide prevention, focusing on the following populations:

The training prompted the students to think about allied health practitioners and their awareness of how to screen for suicide risk. The training was utilized to guide a project focused on suicide prevention in rural areas. The project targeted farmers, ranchers, and practitioners who serve them. Rivard and Steinbeissser used the screening tools promoted at the Mountain Plains MHTTC training. For example, screening tools and the Center’s information were disseminated through OT Practice, which is a national publication. In this article, the Mountain Plains MHTTC’s online suicide prevention workshop is shared as a resource for practitioners. Suicide prevention was targeted by writing a suicide awareness article to be published in local rural newspapers, including the Sidney Herald in Montana.

Read the article from the Sydney Herald, Stop Montana Deaths: Suicide Warning Signs and Prevention.

Noelle and Krista are grateful for this opportunity and hope that other health professionals seek opportunities like this to raise awareness of suicide prevention.

Additional Publication:

Rivard, N., Steinbeisser, K., & Nielsen, S. (In press- May, 2020). Saving lives through suicide prevention and intervention. OT Practice.