Trainings - WRSPC

Suicide Alertness & Intervention Workshops

There are various suicide alertness and intervention workshops within Waterloo Region, such as Start, safeTalk, ASIST.

Locally, two organizations typically deliver safeTalk and ASIST trainings throughout the year: the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington and Thresholds Homes and Supports. Visit the links below for information about upcoming trainings:

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.

WRSPC is fortunate to provide access to Start training for free for those living or working within Waterloo Region. If you are interested in accessing this 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.