Kim Walton is a Clinical Nurse Specialist with over thirty years of experience in health and behavioral health nursing. Walton served as Chief Operations and Chief Clinical Officer in Behavioral Health and Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive for Ambulatory Care in a large integrated healthcare system. In that role, she was responsible for the implementation of Zero Suicide and served as the Project Director for the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant.

Walton has extensive experience implementing the Zero Suicide model both as a healthcare leader and as current Faculty of the Zero Suicide Institute. As a Lead Trainer for Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR), Walton conducted Training of Trainers in all AMSR curricula. Of particular interest for Walton is the intersection of suicide prevention, trauma-informed care, and substance use, focusing on opportunities for safer suicide care for high-risk individuals. She also brings extensive clinical experience with youth and families in trauma-informed care and crisis intervention.

After retiring from clinical practice, Walton spent much of 2020 and 2021 virtually supporting health and behavioral healthcare organizations in providing safer suicide care during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Her focus continues to be on implementing and supporting safer best practices during this time of unprecedented need for improved mental health and suicide prevention in healthcare. As Zero Suicide Institute Faculty and AMSR Lead Trainer, Walton continues to encourage organizations to embrace system transformation and an understanding of safer suicide care as a primary responsibility for all working in healthcare.