About the Academy

Eligibility

Missouri health and behavioral healthcare organizations are eligible to apply. 

Description

Join Wykisha Thomas McKinney, Zero Suicide Institute Senior Project Associate, for a two-day, online Zero Suicide launch event. This event is co-sponsored by The Missouri Department of Mental Health and the Missouri Behavioral Health Council

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.

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Objectives

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.

Contact

Questions? Please Contact: 

• Katie Horstman at khorstman@mobhc.org regarding program questions

• Zero Suicide Institute at info@zerosuicideinstitute.com regarding registration assistance   

How to Apply

Participant Eligibility

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. 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. 

 

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.

All organizations wishing to be considered for the Zero Suicide Academy will submit the application by July 28th, 2023.

• At least one person (e.g., case manager, psychologist, social worker, nurse, other) who provides care to patients daily. 

Application Instructions

The Zero Suicide Academy application consists of:

1. A cover sheet. The lead applicant will receive all correspondence and must be one of the team members.
2. A letter of commitment written by the organization’s CEO/Senior Executive Leader. The CEO/Senior Executive Leader should review and approve the submission and agree to the strategy proposed. Leadership letters of commitment to the Zero Suicide model created for other purposes are acceptable so long as they are dated within the prior 6 months. Click here for sample letter.
3. 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? 
4. A Zero Suicide Organizational Self-Study is to be completed by your implementation team members, along with your application.

Organizational Self-Study

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.

Go to Organizational Self-Study