Indiana health and behavioral healthcare teams are encouraged to apply by May 7, 2024, for an April online Zero Suicide Academy® sponsored by the Division of Mental Health and Addiction & MHAI SWD Training Institute.
About the Academy
The Zero Suicide Academy is a two-day training for senior leaders of health and behavioral health care organizations that seek to dramatically reduce suicides among patients in their care. Using the Zero Suicide framework, participants learn how to incorporate best and promising practices into their organizations and processes to improve care and safety for individuals at risk. Zero Suicide faculty provide both interactive presentations and small group sessions, collaborating with participants to develop organization-specific action plans.
Location
Online Zero Suicide Academy
May 15 and 16, 8:30am to 4:30pm ET
Eligibility
All health and behavioral health organizations in Indiana are eligible to apply for this event. If an organization applying to attend offers school-based behavioral health services we encourage you to invite school counselors and other support staff to participate as well.
Objective
The objectives of the Zero Suicide Academy are to:
- Provide organizations interested in adopting a Zero Suicide approach with the skills and information necessary to launch their effort;
- Create collaborative links between the organizations launching these initiatives in order to provide mentorship and support so that the perspectives, knowledge, and skills of each inform the work of the others; and
- Aid in developing implementation plans for the Zero Suicide initiatives at each participating organization.
How to Apply
- Participant Eligibility
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Applicants are to attend the Zero Suicide Academy with a team of 4 individuals including the person identified as the lead for the system's Zero Suicide initiative. Recommendations for team composition include:
Person(s) responsible and with authority for implementation decisions (e.g. Medical Doctor, CIO, ED, BH Director, or IT).
- At least one senior leader/management (irrespective of discipline area).
- At least one person who manages your electronic health records (EHR) system, quality improvement, or risk management.
- At least one person (e.g., case manager, psychologist, social worker, nurse, other) who provides care to patients daily.
Zero Suicide implementation team members should include persons who can both champion Zero Suicide with passion and those who have some power and influence in your system. This can include clinical directors, senior clinical staff with coordination over a certain area or department, information technology, risk management or quality improvement, or a person with lived experience.
Participating organizations will also be expected to:
Full team is expected to participate in a one-hour pre-academy on Thursday, May 9th from 1:00pm-2:00pm and a one-hour post-academy on Thursday, June 13th from 1:00pm-2:00pm.
Team members are expected to participate in the MHAI Indiana Zero Suicide Community of Practice Series, which will consist of nine monthly 90-minute virtual sessions from August through April 2025 on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 12:00pm-1:30pm EST.
The Community of Practice is designed to give teams additional implementation consultation in these monthly sessions.
Selected applicants are expected to commit to participation in both the Zero Suicide Academy and Community of Practice. - Application Instructions
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Invited organizations wishing to be considered for the Zero Suicide Academy will submit the application by the due date. The application will be reviewed by Zero Suicide Institute (ZSI); a complete application will be required including at least 4 team members selected to attend and the completed organizational self-study. Applications are due by May 7th, 2024.
The Zero Suicide Academy application consists of:
1. A letter of commitment from CEO or other high level management from your organization. Click here for sample template
2. A narrative that, in two to four pages, responds to the following:
- Briefly describe the members of your team and the relevant skills, knowledge, and experience they bring to the Zero Suicide Academy.
- What are your team’s goals for participating in the Zero Suicide Academy and what does the team hope to learn during the training?
- Organizational Self- Study
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A Zero Suicide Organizational Self-Study is to be completed by your implementation team members, along with your application. We offer two versions of the Organizational Self-Study: the General Organizational Self-Study and the Inpatient Organizational Self-Study. Organizations can choose to take one or both available Self-Studies. If you would like to review the questions before taking the survey, we offer a PDF of each version of the Self-Study. To access these resources, you will need to create an account on the Zero Suicide website.
Sponsoring Organization Contacts
Karisa Vandeventer | kvandeventer@mhai.net
Caitlyn Short | caitlyn.short@fssa.in.gov
Michelle Bulington | michelle.bulington@fssa.in.gov
Trainer and consultant with lived expertise in the intersection of trauma and suicide.
Co-founder of Concert Health and Zero Overdose with special expertise in the integration of primary care and behavioral health.
Jan Ulrich delivers training and consultation to improve care and outcomes for individuals at risk for suicide using a continuous quality improvement framework.
Kim Walton is a retired Chief Nurse Executive with extensive experience in suicide prevention, trauma-informed care, and substance use with a focus on opportunities for suicide safer care for high-risk individuals.