Participants earning a certificate for the Online Counseling and Suicide Intervention Specialist should be able to:
Describe the US National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the major resource and training organizations in suicide prevention in America. If from another country, the learner should be able to describe national and regional suicide prevention efforts in his or her own country.
Describe and locate major suicide prevention web sites and online resources
Describe ethical issues, challenges and best practices for the delivery of crisis mitigation services in the online environment
Demonstrate basic engagement and helping skills in an online environment
Recognize text suicide warning signs
Demonstrate increased knowledge and skills in the application of the QPR gatekeeper intervention.
Understand suicide as a major public health problem
Understand the common myths and facts surrounding suicidal behavior
Recognize and identify at least three text-only suicide warning signs
Describe and name multiple referral resources
Be familiar with emergency rescue steps following the learner's parent organization's policies and procedures
Describe the relationship of untreated clinical depression and other mental illnesses and substance abuse to increased suicide risk
Understand means restriction and how to immediately reduce risk
Recognize and identify at least five risk factors for suicide
Recognize and identify at least five protective factors against suicide
Understand the nature of suicide and describe relevant research
Describe groups at high risk for suicide
Demonstrate how to employ a tested suicide risk or lethality assessment method
Engage in interactive text-only interventions to immediately reduce the acute distress, despair and hopelessness in suicidal persons
Describe how to marshal safe-and-effective protective factors to help mitigate a suicide crisis
Demonstrate how to collaborate with a suicidal person to establish an effective personal safety, survival and/or referral plan
Understand the rationale for involuntary treatment laws and how to use them
Describe and demonstrate how to facilitate online resources for persons in crisis