Presenters: Matthew Wintersteen, PhD, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Thomas Jefferson University & Perri Rosen, PhD, Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS)

Training Details: The Zero Suicide framework operationalizes the core components of safer suicide care across seven key elements – Lead, Train, Identify, Engage, Treat, Transition, and Improve. Originally developed for health care settings, each element represents decades of expert consensus in the field of suicide prevention on approaches to effectively care for those experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This presentation overviews the Zero Suicide framework and discusses application beyond health care.

Presenters: Erin Belback, LPC & Memphis Kastner, CPS, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh

Training Details: This presentation highlights how STEAM Peer Specialists support transition-aged youth across the UPMC CABS, STAR, and CoSTAR clinics through relationship-based, recovery-oriented services. Learn how lived experience enhances engagement, promotes self-advocacy, and complements traditional behavioral health care.

Presenter: Candice Biernesser, PhD, LCSW, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh

Training Details: Informed by evidence and lived experience insights from a youth advisory board, this presentation will review current trends in adolescents use of social media and AI and how these usage trends overlap with risk and protective factors for adolescent mental health. Additionally, the presentation will cover strategies and resources that parents, schools, and mental health providers can use for supporting adolescents with using digital technologies in ways that positively influence their mental health.

Presenters: Matthew Wintersteen, PhD & Sydney Waitz-Kudla, PhD, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Thomas Jefferson University

Training Details: Few interventions have demonstrated evidence to reduce suicide deaths. Effective reduction of access to lethal means during a crisis is one such intervention. This workshop will review methods commonly used for suicide, as well as a clinician’s critical role in counseling individuals and families about risk and how to reduce access to lethal means during a crisis.

Presenters: Paula McCommons, EdD, LPC, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh & Perri Rosen, PhD, Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS)

Training Details: Supporting a student’s return to school after a recent mental health or suicide-related crisis is the goal of reentry. This training will highlight components of the reentry process, including planning, developing, and implementing a reentry plan. The presenters will offer considerations for the role of various partners in this process, and how it fits within the broader context of comprehensive school-based suicide prevention.

Presenter: Karla Good, MSW, LCSW, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh

Training Details: This presentation explores sleep and circadian rhythm patterns in adolescents, highlights practical tools for addressing common sleep-related concerns, and outlines basic sleep strategies to support mental health and overall well-being.

Presenter: Lucas Zullo, PhD, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Thomas Jefferson University

Training Details: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) youth experience higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This training will provide an overview of the factors that drive these disparities and teach strategies to enhance the delivery of care for queer youth at risk for suicide. Recommendations are informed by the perspectives of youth with lived experience in combination with evidence-based approaches from the field of suicide prevention.

Presenter: Matthew Wintersteen, PhD, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Thomas Jefferson University

Training Details: Creating a safety plan is one of the most valuable evidence-based skills for clinicians working with individuals at risk for suicide. The development of a safety plan can take place in a single encounter and lead to life-saving outcomes. This training will review in detail the steps of how to create a comprehensive and collaborative safety plan that can be used in a variety of treatment settings. 

Presenter: Maria Anderson, MSW, Star Center, University of Pittsburgh

Training Details: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as harming oneself without suicidal intent. This interactive workshop (intermediate) will review risk factors for NSSI in teens, review common motivations leading teens to self-injure and will review the use of CBT and DBT strategies in the treatment of NSSI in teens. Lastly, this workshop will include tips on the use of psychoeducation with caregivers around NSSI.

Presenter: Matthew Wintersteen, PhD, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Thomas Jefferson University

Training Details: Assessment of suicide risk can be complex and challenging, particularly for those who do not regularly engage with individuals at increased risk for suicide. While many settings now have a process for assessing for risk, the purpose of this workshop is to highlight an evidence-based approach to suicide risk assessment, including examining what the research suggests about typical questions. Additionally, we will focus on the process and methods to improve the likelihood of securing valid data.

Presenter: Karla Good, MSW, LCSW, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh

Training Details: This presentation discusses how to talk with younger students about suicidal thoughts and behaviors, recognizing warning signs and risk factors for suicide, and creating developmentally appropriate safety plans.

Presenter: Guy Diamond, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, President, ABFT International Training Center

Training Details: This training will discuss the importance of engaging families when working with depressed or suicidal adolescents, and practical methods of doing so. Barriers to engaging families in treatment will be discussed, as well as ways to help motivate parents to get their adolescents into treatment. Various forms of adolescent resistance and methods to work through this resistance will also be reviewed.

Presenters: Katie Van Fossen, PhD, Assistant Professor, David Farber ASPIRE Center, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Thomas Jefferson University & Dr. Wendy Ross, MD, FAAP, Director, Jefferson Center for Autism and Neurodiversity, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Thomas Jefferson University

Training Details: Autistic youth are at increased risk for suicide. The goal of this presentation is to discuss considerations for providers working with autistic youth: specifically, to understand unique suicide risk factors, adaptations to screening and assessment, and resources for autistic youth and families.

Presenters: Paula McCommons, EdD, LPC, STAR Center, University of Pittsburgh & Perri Rosen, PhD, Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS)

Details: Postvention following a death by suicide has goals of helping the school community to heal and minimizing risk of contagion. This training will provide considerations for schools on specific postvention activities including screening practices, developing memorials, addressing staff and crisis team needs, and evaluating the postvention response. Attendees will have opportunities to reflect on these considerations and how they relate to their current practices.