Online Counseling and Suicide Intervention Specialist Training
The world has moved online, and so have suicidal people….
Earn a Certificate as an Online Suicide Counseling and Intervention Specialist!
Mode of Study: Mode of Study: Online self-paced, self-study. An expert instructor led option available for an additional fee..
Start Date: Anytime
Time required: 40 hours (time varies with reading speed)
Continuing education credits available (40): National Board of Certified Counselors
Training focus: Knowledge and skill sets for text and IM communications, but suitable for anyone working with suicidal people by telephone, Skype, or face-to-face
Certificate available: The OCSIS Certificate of Course Completion.
The OCSIS Certificate of Course Completion means that the learner completed all modules and successfully passed all required quizzes, exams, and practice challenges covering the knowledge competencies listed below:
- Is aware of relevant suicide prevention efforts in own country
- Understands the ethical principles for online services
- Understands suicidal behavior, terms, statistics, phenomenology
- Understands common myths and misconceptions about suicide
- Understands suicidal desire and its sources
- Understands suicidal capability (attempt history, intoxication, etc.)
- Understands suicidal intent (attempt in progress, lethal planning, etc.)
- Understands the relationship of suicide to violence toward others
- Understands suicide buffers (social supports, ambivalence, etc.)
- Demonstrates knowledge of suicide risk and protective factors
- Understands the relationship psychiatric illness to suicide
- Understands the purpose of means restriction
- Identifies high risk groups, especially in cyberspace
- Understands involuntary treatment laws/need to rescue
Modularized in a rich mix of text, video, voice-over PowerPoint™ lectures, interactive practice sessions, and other state-of-the-art interactive and e-learning technologies, by the end of your training experience you will have met or exceeded the educational standards currently in place for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers.
Prerequisites include text messaging and web navigation skills. The course is SCORM compliant and approved for continuing education.
Can you demonstrate what you have learned?
Available only to those who earn the OCSIS Certificate of Course Completion, the OCSIS Certificate of Competency requires the learner to demonstrate all the knowledge and skills taught in the 40-hour course by producing three (3) complete intervention, assessment, suicide risk mitigation and collaborative crisis and/or treatment plans for expert review and scoring. To earn the certificate the learner must pass the Suicide Risk Assessment Competency Certification Exam conducted by an expert Suicidologist. Learn more here (link to course).
Core competencies taught
The suicide crisis intervention and risk assessment competencies taught and examined in these courses are derived from nationally defined standards and recommendations as published by the American Association of Suicidology and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Further, these competencies are framed within the 2009 Practice Guidelines: Core Elements in Responding to Mental Health Crises as published by the U.S. Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.