Talk Saves Lives is available in English and Spanish. Contact your local chapter or view below for information about events in your area.
Talk Saves Lives is AFSP’s standardized, 45-60 minute education program that provides participants with a clear understanding of this leading cause of death, including the most up-to-date research on suicide prevention, and what they can do in their communities to save lives.
Participants will learn common risk factors and warning signs associated with suicide, and how to keep themselves and others safe. The standard Talk Saves Lives presentation is also available in Spanish.
Topics covered include:
- Scope of the Problem: The latest data on suicide in the U.S. and worldwide
- Research: Information from research on what causes people to consider suicide, as well as health, historical, and environmental factors that put individuals at risk
- Prevention: An understanding of the protective factors that lower suicide risk, and strategies for managing mental health and being proactive about self-care
- What You Can Do: Guidance on warning signs and behaviors to look for, and how to get help for someone in a suicidal crisis
For additional information about some of the topics covered in Talk Saves Lives, please visit Risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs and What to do when someone is at risk.
Facilitating Suicide Bereavement Support Groups For adults: Training Workshop Series
Do you facilitate a suicide bereavement support group?
Would you like to become a facilitator, or start a new group?
Whether you’ve been facilitating a group for years or it’s just an idea in the back of your mind, join us to learn best practices for facilitating warm, welcoming, and effective suicide bereavement support groups.
These interactive, online training workshops are for anyone with a personal or professional interest in facilitating suicide bereavement support groups (these are not meant as healing conferences; if you’ve lost someone to suicide, you need to be at least 2 years from your loss to register). Mental health professionals are warmly welcome; although we don't offer CE credit, we can provide you with proof of attendance.
Joanne L. Harpel, MPhil, CT, JD, President of Coping After Suicide, will lead this unique training series. An international authority on suicide loss with decades of experience as a suicide bereavement support group facilitator and trainer, and the survivor of her brother’s suicide, Joanne is the original co-creator of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Support Group Facilitator Training Program, delivered to thousands of individuals nationwide. She has been delivering this exceptional training for 20 years, including the States of Georgia and Oklahoma, as well as the New York State Funeral Directors Association.
Workshop 1: The Nuts & Bolts of Getting Started
- Essential elements of successful groups
- What the facilitator's role is (and isn't)
- What to watch out for
- Administration, publicity, and attendance
- How do I know I'm ready?
Workshop 2: Best Practices & How-to’s
- Essential facilitation skills and strategies
- Open and closed groups
- The “Hierarchy of Options”
- Handling silence
- Go-to ideas to keep in your back pocket
Workshop 3: Advanced Skills & Tricky Situations
- Monopolizers
- Conflict between group members
- The shoulds (judging and advice-giving)
- Help-rejecting
- Group members who are “stuck”
- Handling a group member in crisis
- Boundaries, expectations, and compassion fatigue
Workshop 4: Best Practices for Zoom Groups (And Other Creative Ideas To Try)
- Special considerations for Zoom groups
- Administration, logistics, and guidelines
- Using journaling and other exercises to create closeness, connection, and community
The registration fee is $195 and covers one 4-workshop series. Can’t attend live? No problem. We’ll send you the Zoom recordings and program materials if you register.
2024 dates coming soon. You can also purchase the program materials and Zoom recordings from the last time we offered the program here.
Learn how to facilitate suicide bereavement support groups for children and teens through our online training workshop series.