Lifelines is a Comprehensive Suicide Awareness and Responsiveness Program for middle and high schools from grades 5 to 12. This is a whole-school program made up of three unique components: Lifelines: Prevention, Lifelines: Intervention, and Lifelines: Postvention. This trilogy of programs is the only existing model of its kind available for schools. The complete Lifelines Trilogy is based on over 20 years of suicide-in-youth research that indicates an informed community can help to prevent vulnerable teens from ending their lives.

MHA offers presentations corresponding the first component (Lifelines: Prevention). 

Lifelines: A Suicide Prevention Program

This first part of the Lifelines Trilogy educates students on the facts about suicide and students’ role in suicide prevention. It provides information on where to find suicide prevention resources in the school and community. Training is included for faculty and staff that provide accurate and practical information on identifying and referring students who might be at risk for suicide. Lifelines: A Suicide Prevention Program also includes a presentation for parents that answers questions about youth suicide and prevention, and it involves them in the school’s suicide prevention activities.

Designed for implementation in middle schools and high schools, it targets the whole school community by providing suicide awareness resources for administrators, faculty and staff, parents, and students. It fits easily into health class programming and lesson plans.

Lifelines Intervention: Helping Students at Risk for Suicide

The second installment in the Lifelines Trilogy provides information on how to be prepared to address and respond to threats or signs of suicide and intervene – before it’s too late. Lifelines Intervention also provides clear guidance on how best to involve parents and guardians as partners and explains how to gather collateral information about a student’s risk for suicide and address specific topics. Other topics addressed include the challenges presented by bullied students, members of sexual minorities, and students in gifted or special education classes.

Lifelines Postvention: Responding to Suicide and Other Traumatic Death

The third installment of the Lifelines Trilogy is Lifelines Postvention: Responding to Suicide and Other Traumatic Death. This unique program educates everyone in the school community on how to successfully address and respond to not only suicide, but any type of traumatic death that profoundly affects the school population. With in-depth references and detailed plans, this resource outlines a response strategy that reflects the challenges schools face in dealing with a death within the school community. Also included are references and support materials that allow school leaders to recognize and reduce the risk of suicide contagion behavior within the school.

GetRightSideup

Sometimes for teens and young adults, the whole world can feel upside down. Getting right side up means providing resources to teens and young adults that help them better understand depression and suicide.

Check out the winning video from the 2015 Opis Youth Suicide Prevention YouTube PSA Contest

ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a two-day training 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 evidence-based two-day, highly interactive, practical, practice-oriented workshop. ASIST is the most researched suicide prevention skills training world-wide.

The Workshop

ASIST provides practical training for caregivers seeking to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Participants often include:

• People concerned about family & friends
• Natural helpers and advisers
• Emergency service workers
• Counselors, teachers and clergy members
• Mental health practitioners
• Workers in health, welfare or justice

The Outcome

The emphasis of the ASIST workshop is on suicide first aid, on helping a person at risk stay safe and seek further help. Attendance at the full two days is essential. Learn how to:

• Recognize invitations for help
• Reach out and offer support
• Review the risk of suicide
• Apply a suicide intervention model
• Link people with community resources

Evaluations have shown that the ASIST workshop increases caregivers’ knowledge and confidence to respond to a person at risk of suicide, that intervention skills are retained over time and that they are put to use to save lives.

Mental Health First Aid is a course that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis.

In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.

Topics covered:

• Depression and mood disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Suicide prevention
• Trauma
• Psychosis
• Substance Use disorders

Mental Health First Aid teaches about recovery and resiliency – the belief that individuals experiencing these challenges can and do get better, and use their strengths to stay well.

This is a full day training that can be done virtually or in-person.

QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer – the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide.

Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. Each year thousands of Americans, like you, are saying “Yes” to saving the life of a friend, colleague, sibling, or neighbor.

 As a QPR-trained Gatekeeper you will learn to:

• Recognize the warning signs of suicide
• Know how to offer hope
• Know how to get help and save a life

 This training can be completed in under two hours. It can be done virtually or in-person.