In January, our administrative staff, counselors, psychologists and nurses took on a heavy topic – suicide. We were fortunate to have two of the leading experts in the field of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention leading the discussion.  Dr. Rich Lieberman is the coordinator of the Suicide Prevention Unit of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is a founding member of National Association for Suicide Prevention’s National Emergency Assistance Team and a co-chair of NASP’s Crisis Prevention and Intervention Curriculum Development Workgroup.  Dr. Scott Poland is a faculty member at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and the chair of National Association for Suicide Prevention’s National Emergency Assistance Team.

Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Poland provided valuable information and then answered our questions. Following the webinar, we spent time in small groups talking about what we need to stop doing; what we need to shift, and what we need to start doing. We had excellent feedback and participation. Our goal is to implement an aligned plan and processes for supporting youth suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention by the 2018-19 school year. We have another training date scheduled with Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Poland in April.