Suicide is preventable. ASIST can help. Register today!

Aug 8, 2023

The Canadian Mental Health Association Nova Scotia Division is offering subsidized ASIST training in communities across the province beginning in September.

Suicide is a difficult topic to bring up and when it does come up it’s important to take action and seek support quickly.

But what are the signs that a person may be contemplating suicide or that they could be at risk? What do you say to someone who has shared that they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and how do you bring it up if you are concerned ? These topics and more are covered in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training [ASIST].

ASIST is a two-day interactive course designed to help individuals recognize the risk of suicide and learn how to intervene to prevent the risk of suicidal thoughts from becoming suicidal behaviours.

Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don’t need any formal training to attend the workshop — ASIST can be learned and used by anyone.

Thanks to funding from the Canadian Red Cross, CMHA NS Division will be offering this internationally recognized workshop across the province at a subsidized rate of $62.77 per person to individuals and organizations for whom the regular ASIST fees are a barrier.

These specially priced workshops are scheduled to take place between September, 2023 and January, 2024, in Bridgewater, Yarmouth, Dartmouth and Truro.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER.

ASIST participants learn to:

• Understand the ways personal and societal attitudes affect views on suicide and interventions.
• Provide guidance and suicide first-aid to a person at risk in ways that meet their individual safety needs.
• Identify the key elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions required to implement it.
• Appreciate the value of improving and integrating suicide prevention resources in the community at large.
• Recognize other important aspects of suicide prevention including life-promotion and self-care.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize that caregivers and persons at risk are affected by personal and societal attitudes about suicide.
• Discuss suicide with a person at risk in a direct manner.
• Identify risk alerts and develop a safe plan related to them.
• Demonstrate the skills required to intervene with a person at risk of suicide.
• List the types of resources available to a person at risk of suicide, including themselves.
• Make a commitment to improving community resources and networking.
• Recognize that suicide prevention is broader than suicide intervention and includes life promotion and self-care for persons at risk and for caregivers.

Questions? Contact Katie Glover at [email protected]