At the Lifeline we have been busy for several months preparing for the annual AAS Conference, which was held last week from April 9th-12th. I believe it is now safe to say that everyone's hard work has paid off! The conference was a success, both for supporting organizations such as ourselves as well as for crisis center staff across the nation who were able to both present and attend. For the Lifeline, this was a particularly exciting conference, and one that we look forward to each year; it not only gives us an opportunity to connect with crisis center staff in person, but also provides us with the opportunity to both share and absorb all the knowledge and expertise surfacing in the field of suicide prevention today.
On the first day of the conference, we presented our Lifeline updates to the network, which encompassed everything from the launch of our Network Resource Center and its many valuable tools, to details about our social media partnership with Facebook.
John Draper, President of the Lifeline, touched on the organizations with whom we collaborate (such as SAMHSA, NASMHPD, CONTACT USA and NASCOD), and clarified the new Lifeline grant objectives in accordance with the National Action Alliance's strategies for suicide prevention.
Shari Sinwelski, Associate Director of Quality Improvement, discussed the release of our Sustainability Toolkit, which will soon be available for crisis center use on the Network Resource Center. She also highlighted some of the Lifeline's milestones in our 2013-2014 fiscal year.
Gillian Murphy, Director of Standards, Training, and Practices Division discussed our Imminent Risk Policy, Risk Assessment Standards, and Best Practices documents, which are all complete and available to the entire network via the Practice Guidelines tab of the Network Resource Center: these documents have been developed by suicide prevention experts for the benefit of crisis center staff to utilize in every way they see fit. Gillian also shared our work on best practices for establishing follow up with individuals in crisis, forming relationships with local Emergency Departments, and the importance of in-call tools for call centers such as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).
On Thursday, Ashley Womble, Director of Communications, went into greater detail about the things she touched upon in our Lifeline updates, such as our new Lifeline E cards and our You Matter blog. She presented in collaboration with peers about the usefulness of incorporating social media into your crisis center's outreach and advertising efforts. She discussed the ways in which outlets such as Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest can be cost effective tools in communicating your center's information and updates to individuals in crisis, and provided examples as to how your crisis center can get started if interested.
Later on Thursday, Shari Sinwelski presented with Gloria Jetter, Clinical Supervisor, and Bart Andrews on the several ways crisis centers can integrate the Lifeline's Quality Practice guidelines into their daily practice and Gillian Murphy presented with peers on the growth of our Lifeline Crisis Chat program.
On Friday, Gillian presented with peers about the most effective ways to provide care for individuals in the Emergency Department after a suicide attempt, highlighting techniques for collaborating with local ERs and hospitals. Several crisis centers voiced their concerns about establishing contact with ER departments, and judging from the questionnaire portion of this presentation it appeared to be a very helpful panel. Moving forward, we hope you will utilize the tools we have provided on the Network Resource Center about partnerships with external agencies.
Also on Friday, Karen Carlucci, Standards, Training, and Practices Manager presented with peers about our Lifeline Simulation Training System: a tool we developed and provide to our crisis centers at no cost as a way to help train staff to handle crisis calls. This training was created as a resource for counselors to become more comfortable with the task of assessing risk and identifying imminent risk via the use of a customized simulation web-based program. Sandri Kramer from Didi Hirsh and Jennifer Armstrong from Centerstone both joined in the presentation by sharing the ways in which this Simulation Training has been implemented in their own centers, and how it has been helpful for their staff/volunteers and supervisors. If you are interested in exploring our Simulation Training, please click here to be directed to the Lifeline Online Training Page on the Network Resource Center. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact Karen Carlucci at KCarlucci@mhaofnycorg.
AAS was also very excited to announce its new division on Attempt Survivors: a significant portion of the population which has been historically invisible in suicide prevention efforts across the nation. As many of you may already know, the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous attempt, and research shows that about 7 percent of people who have attempted suicide and survived later take their own life; this is more than 30 times the rate for people who have never attempted suicide previously. An article covering this new focus in suicide prevention was recently published in the NY Times! Please click here to read the article.
All in all, this year's AAS Conference presented the platform for the Lifeline to share all the useful items we have been working on for the benefit of our crisis centers. But more importantly, it was a way for us at the Lifeline to connect with crisis center staff, old and new, and gain knowledge about the exciting new developments in the field of Suicidology. We thoroughly enjoyed being in Los Angeles, experiencing the great food and weather, and connecting with each and every individual at the conference both during and after of Conference hours. For me especially, as fairly new addition to the Lifeline staff, it was a great way to place faces with the names of individuals who I email White House letters to on a daily basis!
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