Suicide Alertness & Intervention Workshops
There are various suicide alertness & intervention workshops within Waterloo Region, such as Start, safeTalk, ASIST. Locally, the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington delivers safeTalk and ASIST trainings. Visit their event page to view upcoming training dates.
Start
LivingWorks’ Start is a self-paced, online suicide alertness training which teaches participants to recognize when someone is thinking about suicide and connect them to help and support. It takes 90 minutes to complete, and does not require any formal training or prior experience in suicide prevention.
If you are interested in accessing Start training for yourself or your team, please reach out to Karyn, Program Coordinator at kkipperday@wrspc.ca.
SafeTALK
safeTALK is a half-day training that prepares anyone over the age of 15 to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first-aid resources. Most people with thoughts of suicide invite help to stay safe. Alert helpers know how to use these opportunities to support that desire for safety. As a safeTALK-trained suicide alert helper, you will be better able to:
- move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss or avoid suicide
- identify people who have thoughts of suicide
- apply the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen, and KeepSafe) to connect a person with suicide thoughts to suicide first aid, intervention caregivers.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
The ASIST workshop is for caregivers who want to feel more comfortable, confident, and competent in helping to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Over one million caregivers have participated in this two-day, highly interactive, practical, practice-oriented workshop.
