About the Academy

Join Zero Suicide Institute Senior Project Associate Jan Ulrich, for a two-day, online Zero Suicide launch event. This event is sponsored by New Jersey Department of Human Services/Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

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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Dates

Selected applicants are expected to commit to participation in both the Zero Suicide Academy and Community of Practice.

• Pre-Academy, January 22nd, 2024 from 1pm-2pm ET 
• Two-Day Academy, January 23rd and January 24th, 2024 from 8:30am-4:30pm ET

Team members are expected to participate in the New Jersey Zero Suicide Community of Practice Series, which will consist of nine monthly 90-minute virtual sessions from January - September 2024.  Specific dates and times TBD.

Eligibility

All health and behavioral health organizations in New Jersey are eligible to apply for this event.

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

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.

Application Instructions 

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 January 14, 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

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 

Contacts

Questions? Please Contact:

• Allison Kusznikow at allison.kusznikow@dhs.nj.gov regarding program questions.
• Zero Suicide Institute at info@zerosuicideinstitute.com regarding registration assistance.