Meeting Pattern

Description

The Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop is for caregivers who want to feel more comfortable, confident and competent in helping to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Over a million caregivers have received this training. Just as "CPR" skills make physical first aid possible, training in suicide intervention develops the skills needed for life assisting suicide first aid. ASIST is a two-day intensive, interactive and practice-dominated course designed to help caregivers learn how to intervene to prevent the immediate risk of suicide and provide safety-for-now.

The workshop is designed for all caregivers (any person over age 15 in a position of t rust). This includes professionals, paraprofessionals and lay people. It is suitable for mental health professionals, nurses, physicians, pharmacists, teachers, counselors, youth workers, police and correctional staff, school support staff, clergy, and community volunteers. In ASIST, sophisticated helping concepts are translated into generic language so that different types of caregivers can learn together. ASIST is the most widely used suicide intervention training program in the world. Additional information is available online at http://www.livingworks.net.

Syllabus, Objectives, and Outcomes

Objectives:

Understanding Section:

The goal of this section is to understand how PAL meets the life assisting needs of persons at risk.

• Recognize PAL as a tool for meeting the life assisting needs of persons at risk;
• Name the six needs of a person at risk and the basic caregiver tasks of PAL that address those needs;
• Understand how to use PAL's Safety Framework.

Assisting Section:

The goal of this section is to help participants feel more willing, ready and able to assist a person at risk.

• Appreciate PAL as a tool that helps participants combine their attitudes, knowledge and intervention skills to provide suicide first-aid;
• Understand how PAL works in practice;
• Use PAL to help a person at risk of suicide through simulations.

Working Together:

The goal of this section is to have participants appreciate the value of improving their community's resources and the ways in which those resources work together.

• Explore how their role choices might impact helping a person at risk;
• Experience how community resources might benefit a person at risk;
• Recognize the value of personal support networks and other self-care ideas for caregivers.

The ASIST workshop is divided into five sections. Below is a summary of the content of each section.

Preparing: This short but important section introduces and sets the tone for the workshop. Participants arrive at the workshop with a number of different ideas about what might happen, based on their hopes, needs and experiences. In this sect ion, you want to tell participants about the workshop and create an atmosphere for active participation during the rest of the two days.

Connecting: Given the stigma and taboo that surrounds suicide, many participants will have had little chance to freely and openly discuss their attitudes about suicide. The Connecting section provides this opportunity. In workgroup discussion, participants explore, express, identify, examine and perhaps modify their attitudes about suicide and life assisting, suicide first aid.  Looking at attitudes toward suicide is the first step in learning the knowledge and skills to work with persons at risk of suicide.

Understanding: The Understanding section introduces participants to the Pathway for Life Assisting (PAL} model or guide. PAL is designed to meet the needs of persons at risk by guiding caregivers to do certain life assisting tasks that address those needs. This section supports the earlier discussion of attitudes and helps prepare participants for intervention practice on Day 2. If the objectives of the Connecting section are reached, participants end the morning with a commitment to learn more about life assisting, suicide first ai d. This section is a chance to follow up on that commitment. Participants will learn about and have a chance to practice some parts of PAL. This afternoon lays the foundation for Day 2 where participants will study PAL in more detail and have the opportunity to use it in a series of simulations.

Assisting: This section focuses on the process themes that emerge in life assisting intervention. These themes are fluid and flexible while supporting the structural aspects of the PAL that are the same for every intervention. In the Assisting sect ion, participants practice working with situations in which they can combine their desire to help with their understanding of what is helpful. Participants have the opportunity to practice and apply their learning.

Working Together: This section is about community and human resources, including self-care, and about working together with other helpers in their community. By the time participants reach this section, they are beginning to think about how they can be a part of t heir community's resources. In this section, participants first have a chance to explore further the way their role choices might impact their helping a person at risk. Next, they have a chance to experience how all community resources might aid a person at risk. Participants are also reminded of the importance of self-care as a personal resource. Lastly, the section gives time for evaluation and concluding comments.