About the Academy 

Location

Phillips Market Center, 117 Ballard Court, West Columbia, SC 29172

Dates

Selected applicants are expected to commit to participation for the following dates:

Please note there is a Required Pre-Academy Virtual Event and Post Academy Virtual Event

·Pre-Academy (Virtual): August 3rd, 2023, at 12:00pm-1:00pm ET

·Academy Day One: August 10th, 2023 at 9:00am- 5:00pm ET

·Academy Day Two: August 11th, 2023 at 8:00am- 4:00pm ET

·Post-Academy (Virtual): September 14th, 2023 at 12:00pm- 1:00pm ET

Description  

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health, partnered with the Zero Suicide Institute, invites the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, and other behavioral health partners to attend a Zero Suicide Academy in Columbia, SC.

The Zero Suicide Academy is a two-day training for senior leaders of health and behavioral healthcare organizations that seek to dramatically reduce suicides among individuals in their care. The Zero Suicide Community of Practice convene monthly following the Academy to facilitate group learning and assist sites in their first years of implementation.

Using the Zero Suicide framework, participants will 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 provides both interactive presentations and small group sessions, collaborating with participants to develop organization-specific action plans.

Applications for this opportunity are due by July 17th, 2023. Please submit one application per team. Individual team members do not have to register separately. The application should be under the team lead and list all team members. 

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:

Jessica Barnes at jessica.barnes@scdmh.org regarding eligibility

Zero Suicide Institute at info@zerosuicideinstitute.com regarding application assistance

How to Apply 

Participant Eligibility

Only South Carolina Department of Corrections, South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, and associated behavioral health partners are eligible to attend this Academy. Applicants are to attend the Zero Suicide Academy with a team of 4 individuals (including the team lead).

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

Application Instructions

All organizations wishing to be considered for the Zero Suicide Academy will submit the application by clicking ‘apply’ below by July 17, 2023, 6 p.m. ET.  

Please submit one application per team. Individual team members do not have to register separately. The application should be under the team lead and list all team members. 

Application submission should include the following:

1. 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. You can review a template with suggested language here.  
2. A narrative that responds to the following (no more than 2 pages in length):

• Briefly describe the members of your Zero Suicide implementation team and their relevant skills, knowledge, and experience.
• 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

If selected, participants will need to complete a Zero Suicide Organizational Self-Study with their implementation team members by June 19, 2023. There are two versions of Organizational Self-Study: the General Organizational Self-Study and the Inpatient Organizational Self-Study. Organizations can choose to take one or both, if appropriate.

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