Can Crisis Services Help Prevent Violence as well as Suicide?

Body of Abstract: This workshop will focus on an uncommonly discussed aspect of crisis work: engaging with people who could present a harm to others to prevent violence. How is this work like suicide prevention for crisis services? What is the relationship between violence to self and violence to others? To what degree do national standards and policies for suicide assessment and intervention apply to working with people who present a potential harm to others? How frequently do 988 hotline workers encounter persons presenting with a risk to others relative to people who have suicidal thoughts? What might be effective means for crisis services seeking to also prevent violence in serving people presenting with such risks? What tools and technologies would be helpful for crisis services in preventing violence, and how do they complement suicide prevention strategies? These are questions rarely asked and explored in our field, but answering them could create more opportunities for crisis services to save lives.

In this workshop, a panel of both research and practice experts will review the relationship between violence to self (suicide) and violence to others, and how two state-wide 988 crisis hotlines utilize technology tools, training , mobile outreach and community relationships to prevent both suicide and violence. Two renowned crisis and suicide prevention experts will discuss history, theory and research demonstrating the need and potential for preventing violence along with suicide in crisis services. In addition, one crisis center will review how they respond in servicing a state-wide app for helping youth and young adults find help in mental health crisis and report threats of violence (SAFE-UT), used by youth in nearly every school in Utah (K-12 and universities). Another 988 center will review its violence assessment tool used in several states and how their call center and mobile crisis responders they operate work to effectively prevent both violence and suicide. Data will be presented that will help audience members consider the implications for crisis services and their communities in assessing and intervening with individuals presenting a potential harm to self and/or others.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will learn about key assessment principles and technologies that help with determining and managing an individual presenting risks of harming others.
• Attendees will learn about current crisis service trends--call center, mobile crisis and a youth phone app in Utah--for presenting a harm to others, relative to assessing/intervening with suicide-related concerns.
• Attendees will learn about care, intervention and prevention approaches undertaken by two statewide 988 crisis services designed to prevent violence and suicide, with one focused more on youth populations.