Course 6B - After a Suicide: Toolkit for Schools

This Course 6B - After a Suicide: Toolkit for Schools - is sponsored online by CEU By Net. The course earns 6 Clock Hours of credit for multiple State Mental Health and Addiction Boards including Texas Mental Health Boards, Florida CE Broker, the Alabama Board for Social Work, Texas' TCBAP-TCB-TAAP, California CADTP, and CCADE, Florida Certification Board, IC&RC, and NAADAC. Re-approved May 1, 2023 by EACC for 6 PDHs Domains I & 2. The course also awards 4 Credit Hours for California BBS and 4 NBCC Hours. Based upon these credentials, the course is accepted by most state boards for multiple licenses.


This course is the new, 2nd Edition of the original document created in 2011 by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). The purpose is to assist schools in the aftermath of a suicide in the school community. This second edition includes updated information and new material.

The material in this course reflects consensus recommendations developed in consultation with national experts, including school-based administrators and staff, clinicians, researchers, and crisis response professionals. It provides guidance and an array of tools for school administrators and mental health managers for development of a POSTVENTION approach to student or employee suicide.

In this course, POSTVENTION is strategically implemented by middle and high school administrators and key Crisis Intervention staff, after the death of a student or school employee by suicide, in coordination with community entities including the Coroner or Medical Examiner, Police, Funeral Director, and the Faith Community. The purpose of Postvention is to alleviate the distress of suicidally bereaved individuals – in this case, both students and employees - and to reduce the risk of imitative suicidal behavior (SUICIDE CONTAGION), and to promote the healthy recovery of the affected community.

This resource was originally developed for Administrators and Crisis Team staff in middle and high schools, but it is also valuable for Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Programs - particularly inpatient, residential and Intensive Outpatient programs. Although some of the guidance can also be used to serve other academic groups, the developmental differences between students in elementary, middle, and high school, and college must be taken into account when using the toolkit to respond to a death in a school or treatment program. Likewise, age differences in other workplaces must be taken into consideration.

These materials are useful for Employee Assistance Program (EAP) professionals who are providing management consultation to school districts. The strategic interventions and tools presented in this course apply to both District students and District employees. The essential approach to communication about the death and POSTVENTION procedures which follow a death are also applicable to workplaces other than schools.

Ideally, schools and other organizations should have a crisis response and postvention plan in place before a suicide occurs. That will enable staff to respond in an organized and effective manner. But whether or not a plan is in place, this toolkit contains information to initiate a coordinated response within the facility and the community.


Goals for Learning:

1. Know the Crisis Response Steps that should be taken immediately, internally within the organization and within the community, when a school learns that a student or employee has died by suicide.

2. Know the do's and don'ts of reducing the emotional trauma of a student or employee suicide for all students and staff, including specific approaches to obtaining and communicating information about the death.

3. Understand the concept and process of POSTVENTION within an organization -- i.e., strategic communication and activity implemented by administrators and key staff to alleviate the distress of suicidally bereaved individuals -- with intent to reduce the risk of imitative suicidal behavior (SUICIDE CONTAGION) and promote the healthy recovery of the affected community.

4. Know the approaches to sharing information and coordinating activities with organizations outside the school, including the police department, the coroner or medical examiner, the faith community, the funeral home director, and mental health providers.

5. Know how to effectively work with the Media – helping journalists to ensure that the public gets the information it needs without causing undue emotional stress, and without increasing the risk of suicide contagion to other students or violation of privacy.

6. Know how to appropriately use and guide Social Media to inform, while working to limit the spread of online rumors and the type of media content that can increase the risk of vulnerable students.

7. Understand the dynamics and risks involved in Memorialization – how to establish policies and procedures which guide students toward appropriately remembering and honoring a student who died without contributing to additional emotional trauma or suicide risk among other students.

8. Have direct access to an extensive array of tools and templates including sample guidelines for policy development, letter content, and procedures to be used in the aftermath of a suicide.

9. Direct access to an extensive collection of online resources for the design and implementation of effective POSTVENTION programs in the aftermath of tragedies including student suicide.


This course is published and copyrighted by American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, & Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2018). After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools (2nd edition). Waltham, MA: Education Development Center. Funded by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), (Grant No. 5U79SM062297).

Note: You are free to read, download, save, and print the Study Guide(s) and Quiz(zes) for this Course, before deciding to enroll in the course. These course materials are public domain, and CEU By Net is sponsoring the course for CE Credit. You may STUDY THIS COURSE and the quiz AT NO CHARGE. You may enroll in the course at any time. You must take the quiz ONLINE, by logging into your My Home Page , clicking on the course you want to complete, completing the quiz or quizzes required, and submitting the Feedback Form. You will then instantly receive your course completion certificate! For more information on this course - and to see a COPY of the online quiz - click the '+' symbols, below:

Course 6B - After a Suicide: Toolkit for Schools - Study Guide

Click here to view this study material. Click here to view and print the quiz you will take for this material.

Course 6J - The Ethics of Working with LGBTQ Youth - Ending Conversion Therapy

This course – 'Course 6J - The Ethics of Working with LGBTQ Youth - Ending Conversion Therapy' – is sponsored online by CEU By Net and earns 6.75 Clock Hours of credit for multiple State Mental Health and Addiction Boards and Associations including Texas Mental Health Boards, TCB-TCBAP-TAAP, California CCADE and CADTP. The course is pre-approved by IC&RC and NAADAC for 6.75 Clock Hours through our TCB-TCBAP-TAAP, and California addiction CE approvals. EACC approves 6.75 PDH Domain III which expires June 30, 2024. The course awards 4.5 hours for California BBS Ethics and 4.5 NBCC Hours.

Based upon our national credentials, the course is accepted by most state boards for multiple licenses.

NOTE: Florida's CE approval number 785207 is no longer effective because of recent Florida Statutory regulations that forbid the provision of healthcare services to minors who seek or support a transition of sexual identity to an identity other than that assigned at birth.

To read and download this course for FREE, click links that you will find at the end of this course description.


CEU By Net sponsors this research-based course online for Continuing Education credit - as an ETHICS course, a CULTURAL AWARENESS course, and a COUNSELING intervention course. The training document was prepared and published in the public domain in October 2015 by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA - Rockville, MD). The Expert Panel consisted of a panel of researchers and practitioners in child and adolescent behavioral health with a strong background in gender development, gender identity, and sexual orientation in children and adolescents. The panel included, among others, Sheri Berenbaum, PhD; Celia B. Fisher, PhD; Laura Edwards-Leeper, PhD; Marco A. Hidalgo, PhD; David Huebner, PhD; Colton L. Keo-Meier, PhD; Scott Leibowitz, MD; Robin Lin Miller, PhD; Caitlin Ryan, PhD, ACSW; Josh Wolff, PhD; and Mark A. Yarhouse, PsyD. The APA activities were coordinated by Clinton W. Anderson, PhD (Associate Executive Director, Public Interest Directorate, Director LGBT Office) and Judith Glassgold, PsyD (Associate Executive Director, Government Relations, Public Interest Directorate).


We at CEU By Net are sponsoring this course because it represents a critical 'sea change' in the mental health and addiction field and in American social thinking. This course should be enlightening for all professionals who are not familiar with the inherent physiological and genetic basis for LGBTQ IDENTITY including TRANSGENDER IDENTITY in very young children, and the developmental process as it unfolds over time. The course is clinically appropriate for Professional Counselors, Social Workers, LMFTs, CEAPs, and Addiction Professionals who are working with or who may work with adolescents and children who are or may be questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity, and their parents.

The course is clear about the impact of understanding and accepting LGBTQ identity and sexual orientation upon achievement of treatment goals. The course provides specific approaches to forming a healthy accepting professional relationship with LGBTQ youth and their families.

The authors/publishers describe the purpose well:

"Ending Conversion Therapy: Supporting and Affirming LGBTQ Youth, is [published] to provide mental health and addiction professionals with accurate information about effective and ineffective therapeutic practices related to children’s and adolescent’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Specifically, this report addresses the issue of CONVERSION THERAPY for minors. .....The conclusions in this report are based on professional consensus statements arrived at by experts in the field. Conversion Therapy - the effort to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression - is a practice that is not supported by credible evidence and has been disavowed by behavioral health experts and associations.

"..... Conversion therapy perpetuates outdated views of gender roles and identities as well as the negative stereotype that being a sexual or gender minority or identifying as LGBTQ is an abnormal aspect of human development. Most importantly, it may put young people at risk of serious harm."

This publication is abundantly clear that "scientists now recognize that a wide spectrum of gender identities and gender expressions exist (and have always existed), including people who identify as either man or woman, neither man nor woman, a blend of man and woman, or a unique gender identity (Harrison, Grant, & Herman, 2012; Kuper, Nussbaum, & Mustanski, 2012)" Further, "Same-gender sexual identity, behavior, and attraction are not mental disorders. Same-gender sexual attractions are part of the normal spectrum of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation change in children and adolescents should not be a goal of mental health and behavioral interventions".

The authors are clear that the inherent gender orientation, gender identity, and gender expression of each individual child CANNOT be changed through behavioral health interventions or social pressure - a conclusion that is now supported by virtually all professional behavioral health and medical associations as well as the DSM and the ICD. This Federal publication presents and supports GENDER as a fluid developmental construct that is experienced individually by children and adolescents from age 2 through puberty.

The AFFIRMATIVE CARE process is presented as a parent-child-professional team effort which allows children and adolescents who identify as TRANSGENDER to explore their identity and cross sex transition at their own pace, in whatever form it may take. Medical interventions (cross sex hormone treatment and gender affirmative surgery) as well as social gender transition are explored by the child and family with the assistance of a medical and behavioral health team, when the youth is ready for such considerations.

Professionals taking this course will know the meaning of Sexual Minority, Gender Minority, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Transgender, Cisgender, Intersex, and Gender Diverse as these terms apply to LGBTQ children and youth, and the possible developmental trajectories of each.

THE GOALS OF THIS COURSE

1. Based upon the extensive research which produced this SAMHSA document, understand the new ETHICAL REQUIREMENT for mental health, SUD, and physical healthcare professionals to cease the practice of CONVERSION THERAPY with LGBTQ youth.

2. Recognize the negative impact of failing to acknowledge LGBTQ identity and sexual orientation as an important ETHICAL ISSUE in both mental health and substance abuse programs -- considering the vulnerability of LGBTQ children and adolescents to substance use disorders (SUD) and suicidal behaviors as a function of family rejection and homelessness, anxiety and depression, and submission to CONVERSION THERAPY.

3. Know the various forms of CONVERSION THERAPY to which LGBTQ children and youth have been historically submitted, and the approved alternatives to Conversion Therapy that are appropriate at various stages of LGBTQ identity development.

3. Know the difference between Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression in children, adolescents, and young adults, and the possible blending of these gender attributes.

4. Gain a clear understanding of the difference between GENDER vs. Sex Assigned at Birth, as it pertains to the normal spectrum of sexual expression and development of gender identity in humans.

5. Recognize the negative impact of failing to acknowledge LGBTQ identity and sexual orientation, and the vulnerability of LGBTQ children and adolescents to substance abuse, homelessness, anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors when submitted to CONVERSION THERAPY.

6. Know the meaning of Sexual Minority, Gender Minority, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Transgender, Cisgender, Intersex, and Gender Diverse as these terms apply to LGBTQ children and youth, and the possible developmental trajectories of each.

7. Learn effective, ETHICAL approaches to forming a healthy counseling relationship with LGBTQ youth and their families, including families who are not comfortable with their child's LGBTQ identity.

8. Know how to present the LGBTQ status of the child or adolescent to the parent, including (1) the inherent neurological and biochemical basis for LGBTQ identity and (2) the physical and emotional development process from childhood to adulthood.

9. Know the most effective approach to assisting parents in forming a healthy relationship with the child or adolescent despite their difficulty in accepting the child's LGBTQ status.

10. Know and understand the appropriate AFFIRMATIVE CARE for TRANSGENDER and Intersex youth which facilitates timely social and medical transition (including surgery and sex-affirmative hormonal regimen), based upon an understanding of the developmental trajectories from very early childhood through young adulthood.

Note: You are free to read, download, save, and print the Study Guide(s) and Quiz(zes) for this Course, before deciding to enroll in the course. These course materials are public domain, and CEU By Net is sponsoring the course for CE Credit. You may STUDY THIS COURSE and the quiz AT NO CHARGE. You may enroll in the course at any time. You must take the quiz ONLINE, by logging into your My Home Page , clicking on the course you want to complete, completing the quiz or quizzes required, and submitting the Feedback Form. You will then instantly receive your course completion certificate! For more information on this course - and to see a COPY of the online quiz - click the '+' symbols, below:

Course 6J - The Ethics of Working with LGBTQ Youth - Ending Conversion Therapy

Click here to view this study material. Click here to view and print the quiz you will take for this material.

Course 6A - Mental Health Response to Mass Violence and Terrorism - A Training Manual

This course is sponsored online by CEU By Net and earns 7.0 Clock Hours of credit for multiple State Boards including Florida, Texas, and Alabama, TCBAP-TAAP, IC&RC, NAADAC, and Florida Certification Board. EACC - 6.5 PDHs Domain I, II, III - Expires June 30, 2024. Also awards 4.75 CA BBS Hours and 4.75 NBCC Hours. Based upon these credentials, course is accepted by most state boards for multiple licenses.

THIS IS A 'QUIZ ONLY' COURSE. That means you pay ONLY if you decide that you want to take the quiz to earn a certificate, after studying the course materials for free. (Or, you may buy an Annual Subscription for $49 and take unlimited courses on this website at no additional charge, for an entire year.)

This course has two online downloadable text document study guides in a PDF format, and two online quizzes.

PUBLISHERS AND AUTHOR OF THE COURSE MATERIALS: The training documents are COPYRIGHTED AND PUBLISHED in the public domain by the US Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - Center for Mental Health Services in Rockville, MD, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). The primary AUTHOR of the training manual is the nationally recognized expert on response to mass criminal violence, clinical psychologist Deborah J. DeWolfe, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.

The course is appropriate for Social Workers, LMFTs, LPCs and other licensed counselors and treatment providers, AOD-SA-CD Counselors, Pastoral Counselors, Rehabilitation Specialists, CEAP Providers, emergency response teams, community planners, administrators, and clinical supervisors.

In fact, the training manual from which these course materials come is recommended by SAMHSA for all who have an interest in or a need to know the details of effectively responding to a mass casualty event such as a terrorist attack or mass criminal violence tragedy (e.g., school and mall shootings, bombings, hijackings), and plane crashes with mass casualties.

This course emphasizes the COMMUNITY and PREVENTATIVE aspects of addressing the impact of mass casualty tragedies. The interventions that are described are specific to diverse age groups, religious groups, and ethnicities. The course teaches that there are CULTURAL, ETHNIC, AND RELIGIOUS considerations to keep in mind when assisting communities, family members, survivors and victims in the immediate aftermath of tragedy. The bottom line, based upon research and extensive experiential data from SAMHSA, is this: ‘What helps vs. what hurts and worsens the trauma?’ and ‘What preventative interventions can discourage development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depressive disorders, and associated AOD use’.

As indicated, this course material is an extract [i.e., the FIRST THREE CHAPTERS] of a much larger TRAINING DOCUMENT first published in the public domain by SAMHSA in 2004. The training documents promoted on the SAMHSA website are reviewed annually for quality and relevance. The current relevance of this course material is reflected by the fact that the entire Training Manual is currently utilized and cited as a primary federal and state training document, utilized to prepare federal and state offices for responding to mass violence tragedies and terrorism events.


The larger SAMHSA publication -- from which this CEU By Net course material is extracted -- is entitled 'Mental Health Response to Mass Violence and Terrorism - A Training Manual'.

Although you won't need it for this course, you may want to read more on this subject later. If so, you may click the + sign below, where you will find the URL location for the entire document on the SAMHSA website.

You can READ and PRINT and SAVE the study material for both the Study Guides AND the quizzes for FREE. Please scroll down to the bottom of this overview (just beyond the GOALS) and click the plus signs to view the two course material documents and the two quizzes you will need to pass to obtain credit for the course.

GOALS OVERVIEW, according to the authors:

'This manual contains the basics of what mental health providers, crime victim assistance professionals, and faith-based counselors need to know to provide appropriate mental health support following incidents involving criminal mass victimization' ...... whether that be a terrorist attack such as 9-11 or a mass shooting incident such as Columbine or Newtown, CT.

For more information about the specific goals of each of the two Study Guides, read on, below.


GOALS OF THE COURSE:

For Study Guide 1:

The first Study Guide in Course 6A pertains specifically to the details of victim and survivor response, both in the short-term and the long-term, as it varies according to age, ethnicity, and the nature of the disaster.

1. Understand the purpose of this research-based training manual, as well as the requirement for multi-agency involvement in the response to disaster - both federal and state.

2. Based upon the extensive research which produced this document, obtain a clear understanding of the differences in victim/survivor response to mass violence or terrorism, vs. response to natural disasters.

3. Learn about the 'Population Exposure Model' - understanding the impact of the disaster upon different affected population groups, i.e, those with closest proximity to the disaster vs. those affected but more removed, and those with a history of Substance Use Disorder or Mental Health disturbance, and people with different CULTURAL backgrounds.

4. Learn the eight dimensions of traumatic exposure associated with post-traumatic stress, and the survivor characteristics associated with varying degrees of response. Learn to identify the strengths and the vulnerabilities of clients according to these parameters.

5. Know the Model of Human Response to Trauma and Bereavement: The immediate and long term adult reactions - physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive - and how these apply to persons with SUDs and Mental Health disorders and to different CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, and ETHNIC population groups.

6. Know the special reactions and considerations for children, adults, and the elderly.


For Study Guide 2:

The second Study Guide in Course 6A addresses the key principles for behavioral health intervention following violent mass casualty incidents. Only credentialed professionals should provide some of these interventions; others are appropriate for all human service and crime victim assistance workers serving survivors.

1. Understand the immediate and long-term interventions with adults and with children and adolescents, following violent mass casualties, whether terrorism or criminal in nature.

2. Learn the 10 key principles which guide mental health providers, as well as other responders and human service workers who are assisting survivors.

3. Know the intervention goals for initial responders in mass violence situations.

4. Know the immediate intervention goals and priorities for mental health responders in a disaster situation, whether terrorism or other mass criminal violence situation.

5. Know the immediate and long term interventions commonly used with adults in the aftermath of mass violence.

6. Know the immediate and long term interventions commonly used with children and adolescents affected by mass violence.

7. Know the interventions which are specific to diverse religious groups, ethnicities, and cultures, i.e., the CULTURAL, ETHNIC, and RELIGIOUS considerations to keep in mind when assisting communities, family members, survivors and victims in the immediate aftermath of tragedy.

Later, if you wish to know 'more' about this topic, you may wish to access the entire 180 page document from which this course was extracted. You can find it in the form of a regular PDF document which you can save to your computer, at the following federal website address. (Copy and paste it into your browser at any time you so desire.)

http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA04-3959/SMA04-3959.pdf

Note: You are free to read, download, save, and print the Study Guide(s) and Quiz(zes) for this Course, before deciding to enroll in the course. These course materials are public domain, and CEU By Net is sponsoring the course for CE Credit. You may STUDY THIS COURSE and the quiz AT NO CHARGE. You may enroll in the course at any time. You must take the quiz ONLINE, by logging into your My Home Page , clicking on the course you want to complete, completing the quiz or quizzes required, and submitting the Feedback Form. You will then instantly receive your course completion certificate! For more information on this course - and to see a COPY of the online quiz - click the '+' symbols, below:

Course_6A - Guide 1

Click here to view this study material. Click here to view and print the quiz you will take for this material.

Course_6A - Guide 2

Click here to view this study material. Click here to view and print the quiz you will take for this material.

Managed Care Course 4A - This Is Managed Behavioral Health Care - and It's Not Your Grandpa's Chevy