UVU Conference on
Suicide Prevention
October 7, 2022 · Hybrid Event
As an international Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills presenter, Sergeant Kevin Briggs’ story and lived experiences have been featured in numerous publications and media presentations across the world. His first book, Guardian of the Golden Gate: Protecting the Line Between Hope and Despair, was released in July 2015.
Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol officer who spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread. Through his compassion, he encouraged more than 200 individuals over his career to choose life. These challenging, but rewarding efforts earned him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge.” After a 23-year career with the California Highway Patrol, Briggs retired to dedicate his life to promote mental health awareness across the globe through Pivotal Points, an organization he founded to promote Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills.
Kevin speaks publicly about not having the right kind of professional training to effectively assist persons in crisis when he first began work as a patrol officer. Over time and using all the things he learned, Briggs found a positive way to approach people in crisis, using listening skills to find the “thread” that would encourage individuals to find hope for tomorrow and allow them to make the decision to live for another day.
Today, Kevin is mapping a movement as he speaks publicly about his suicide prevention and crisis encounters with people on the bridge. He shares his “Listening to Understand” skills followed up with key active listening points for anyone to use; his personal triad for healthy living; his RELEASE model to assist anyone in crisis; his crisis plan, and his personal mental health struggles while serving in the Army, as a police officer, as a cancer survivor, as a family member and father, and as a leader and co-worker.
NOTE: Live participants can join ONE of these sessions. Recordings of all sessions will be available in the Conference Portal for later viewing until October 21, 2022 at 5pm. CEUs are available, BUT participants MUST COMPLETE THE ASSOCIATED QUIZ for each session attended or viewed in order to receive credit.
During this breakout session we will discuss how to build and maintain relationships with your State and Federal representatives to advocate for mental health and suicide prevention legislation. We will discuss how to navigate our state's legislative website and AFSP's Action Center which houses all legislation under consideration for support. We will also provide an update on the current legislation that we have been advocating for including: the upcoming 988 roll-out; The Behavioral Health Crisis Service Expansion Act; The Effective Suicide Screening and Assessment in the Emergency Department Act.
This session will be of particular interest to mental health administrators, but is also appropriate for all audiences
Religion and spirituality offer many sexual and gender minorities greater meaning and social connection in their lives, which can be powerful protective elements against suicide. However, exposure to anti-LGBTQ religious messaging can also lead to more internalized stigma and potent spiritual struggles, which may increase risk for suicide. As a result, understanding how, when, and for whom religion acts as a protective or risk factor is an important part of culturally competent suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ individuals in Utah. In this session, Dr. McGraw will present new research that helps us disentangle the complex dynamics between religion and suicide risk among sexual and gender minorities.
This session is appropriate for all audiences
As a society, we’ve addressed an obesity crisis by teaching physical education in school, a teen pregnancy crisis by teaching sex education in school, and the substance abuse crisis with early intervention Red Ribbon campaigns, beginning in elementary school. Historically, we’ve seen this model work – logically, it stands to reason that the big push for SEL in schools will effectively address the adolescent mental health crisis. But is that the only application for SEL? This session will discuss the value of a skills-based approach to teaching SEL in schools, will discuss the relevant application for students of any age, and will demonstrate how easily skills-based SEL can easily translate to supporting mental health in organizations.
This session will be of particular interest to organizational leaders and personnel but is also appropriate for all audiences.
LiveOn Utah is a statewide suicide prevention campaign focused on hope and healing, with the ultimate goal of giving Utahns the skills to recognize warning signs for suicide and have difficult conversations when they are concerned about someone. Allison Foust, the Project Director for the LiveOn Campaign, will share the new publicly available suicide prevention training information with all participants.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
To prevent suicide, we need to be able to talk about it openly—without fear or shame. But how we talk about suicide matters. These conversations and messages can be either helpful or harmful. Suicide-related messages must be conveyed in ways that support safety, help-seeking, and healing. Safe & Effective Messaging for Suicide Prevention is a training developed by The Office of Substance Use and Mental Health in collaboration with UDOH and NAMI UT. The goal of this new training is to better support our partners statewide in sharing suicide prevention messages that inspire hope and healing and empower community members to take positive actions to prevent suicide. The training covers safe and effective messaging for data communications, news reporting, postvention communication, public health messaging, and stories of lived experience.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
Participants are encouraged to attend either the Virtual Exhibit Fair or the in-person Fair during this time frame. Virtual Exhibit Fair vendors will remain open until October 21st at 5 pm (the full conference time frame) via the conference portal. The Exhibit Fair will feature information regarding services and resources offered by our participating vendors and sponsors. Virtual Participants can stroll through the various ‘booths’ – and enter those that interest them by clicking on the ‘booth’ name. In-Person Participants can visit booths just outside of the CB 101 Auditorium.
Graduate Student Posters will be presented in person in the Science Building Atrium (SB). A selection of pre-recorded posters will be available for virtual attendees in the participant portal.
Note: Inclusion of vendors in the Exhibit Fair does not constitute or imply UVU’s endorsement, warranty, or recommendation of information, products, or services of the foregoing; products, services, URLS, or links to external sites referred to, presented, or displayed.
An appropriate and empathetic response following a suicide death is critical. In fact, it is said that good postvention IS suicide prevention. Postvention refers to activities that help individuals and communities cope with the emotional distress resulting from suicide and prevent additional trauma. Everyone must embark on postvention, including state and local governments, schools, faith communities, families, friends, and affinity groups. Carol will present the guiding principles of a postvention response, the resources to support community postvention, and how to respond after a suicide death in a way that promotes hope and healing.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
NOTE: Live participants can choose ONE of these sessions. Recordings of all sessions will be available in the Conference Portal for later viewing until October 21, 2022 at 5pm. CEUs are available, BUT participants MUST COMPLETE THE ASSOCIATED QUIZ for each session attended or viewed in order to receive credit.
Losing a client to suicide is considered the most devasting experience in the career of mental health clinicians. It is not uncommon and is increasing in frequency in clinical practice. The loss of a client to suicide remains the primary reason mental health clinicians leave the field. In this session, participants will learn the most common sequelae post-client suicide, protective factors that clinicians can cultivate to continue to provide quality care to higher risk clients, clinical team building practices, self-care strategies and formal agency responses to the death of a client, a student, or a colleague to suicide.
This session will be of particular interest to mental health clinicians, but is also appropriate for all audiences.
Although many researchers have focused on factors that might put individuals at risk of suicide (e.g. suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness); less attention has been placed on factors that might protect individuals from risk of suicide. This session will discuss five areas of resource development that are shown to build and lead to greater resiliency: namely Attachment patterns, Identity, Self-esteem, Hardiness and Purpose. Jordan will then bring together each of these areas to talk about the instillation of hope as the clinical and societal resource for overcoming – and clinically treating – suicidal ideation.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
During the “Great Resignation” of the last two years, we’ve learned that an effective workplace must have a culture of wellness and foster resilient employees. Innovative employers are realizing that building organizational culture on principles of empowerment, purpose, trust and accountability makes all the difference. In this session, we will discuss the importance of informed leadership engagement, identifying and correcting toxic work culture, and successfully nurturing a resilient workforce.
This session will be of particular interest to organizational leaders and personnel, but is also appropriate for all audiences.
Join David (Davee) Chandler as he shares this presentation designed to educate participants about resiliency and its role in preventing suicide. Davee will present The Life Launch Centers Resilience Model© utilizing DBT and CBT concepts and skills with information from other scholars and educators in equipping those who struggle with depression, anxiety, phobia, and other emotional maladies so prevalent in our society today. A description of each part of the model will be offered with an explanation of the relevance to suicide prevention and mental health.
This session will be of particular interest to mental health clinicians familiar with DBT and CBT.
This presentation will review the crisis continuum in Utah. Kaitlin will discuss what to expect when calling 988, services and resources provided from 988, call volumes, and transition from the 10-digit to 3-digit number, which launched on July 16th, 2022. This presentation will review mobile crisis outreach teams across the state, their services, and how to access these teams. The presentation will also review Receiving Centers and how to access them. Kaitlin will also discuss Utah’s Stabilization and Mobile Response program.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
NOTE: Live participants can choose ONE of these sessions. Recordings of all sessions will be available in the Conference Portal for later viewing until October 21, 2022 at 5pm. CEUs are available, BUT participants MUST COMPLETE THE ASSOCIATED QUIZ for each session attended or viewed in order to receive credit.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) has a bold initiative called Project 2025 (https://project2025.afsp.org ). Led by the largest suicide prevention organization in the United States, with guidance from the top minds in the field and dynamic data modeling, AFSP has determined programs, policies, and interventions to prevent as many suicides as possible. Project 2025 is the collaborative effort to implement and scale these strategies nationwide. Together with its board of expert advisors, AFSP has examined:
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher suicide ideation and completion rates. Traditional approaches and indicators do not consistently support those with an ASD diagnosis. This session will be focused on bringing awareness, providing resources, and sharing tips and techniques that may help avoid crises.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
This quick trip will help business professionals prep for and navigate a route to SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE. Participants will leave this destination-specific session with two great road maps, the fastest routes, and simple instructions that can effectively lead an organization to support mental health in the workplace in record time.
This session will be of particular interest to organizational leaders and personnel, but is also appropriate for all audiences.
In this session, Martin Roundy will examine research using the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study data and other studies that suggest solid connections between the adverse impact of ACE outcomes to the network of antecedents to suicidal thoughts and attempts. It can be strongly asserted that childhood ACEs lead to many known precursors of suicide. Potentially suicidal individuals have problems that have become too heavy to bear. If we focus on the problem, we risk not seeing the person. This session is based on the belief that many of those individuals we encounter with suicidal thoughts and behaviors came to this ‘ending’ point due largely to their adverse childhood experiences and the multitude of symptomatic outcomes driven by them.
This session is appropriate for all audiences.
