(1) By July 1, 2019, the Department of Education, in consultation with the Statewide Office for Suicide Prevention and suicide prevention experts, shall develop a list of approved youth suicide awareness and prevention training materials and suicide screening instruments that may be used for training in youth suicide awareness, suicide prevention, and suicide screening for instructional personnel in elementary school, middle school, and high school. The approved list of materials:

(a) Must identify available standardized suicide screening instruments appropriate for use with a school-age population and which have validity and reliability and include information about obtaining instruction in the administration and use of such instruments.

(b) Must include training on how to identify appropriate mental health services and how to refer youth and their families to those services.

(c) May include materials currently being used by a school district if such materials meet any criteria established by the department.

(d) May include programs that instructional personnel can complete through a self-review of approved youth suicide awareness and prevention materials.

(2) A school shall be considered a “Suicide Prevention Certified School ” if it:

(a) Incorporates 2 hours of training offered pursuant to this section. The training must be included in the existing continuing education or inservice training requirements for instructional personnel and may not add to the total hours currently required by the department. A school that chooses to participate in the training must require all instructional personnel to participate.

(b) Has at least two school-based staff members certified or otherwise deemed competent in the use of a suicide screening instrument approved under subsection (1) and has a policy to use such suicide risk screening instrument to evaluate a student’s suicide risk before requesting the initiation of, or initiating, an involuntary examination due to concerns about that student’s suicide risk.

(3) A school that meets the criteria in subsection (2) must report its compliance to the department. The department shall keep an updated record of all Suicide Prevention Certified Schools and shall post the list of these schools on the department’s website. Each school shall also post on its own website whether it is a Suicide Prevention Certified School, and each school district shall post on its district website a list of the Suicide Prevention Certified Schools in that district.

This webpage provides department-approved youth suicide awareness and prevention trainings for K-12 instructional personnel per Statuterequirements.