School counseling services may include, but are not limited to: (14) educating students, teachers, and parents on anxiety, depression, cutting, and suicide issues and intervening with students who present with these issues […] (52) participating, in addition to other topics at in-service training programs, in training to identify the warning signs of mental illness and suicidal behavior in adolescents and teenagers and learning appropriate intervention and referral techniques.

(a) To conduct in-service training programs for teachers. (b) In addition to other topics at in-service training programs, at least once every 2 years, licensed school personnel and administrators who work with pupils in kindergarten through grade 12 shall be trained to identify the warning signs of mental illness and suicidal behavior in youth and shall be taught appropriate intervention and referral techniques. A school district may utilize the Illinois Mental Health First Aid training program, established under the Illinois Mental Health First Aid Training Act [405 ILCS 105/1 et seq.]and administered by certified instructors trained by a national association recognized as an authority in behavioral health, to provide the training and meet the requirements under this subsection. If licensed school personnel or an administrator obtains mental health first aid training outside of an in-service training program, he or she may present a certificate of successful completion of the training to the school district to satisfy the requirements of this subsection. (c) School guidance counselors, nurses, teachers and other school personnel who work with pupils may be trained to have a basic knowledge of matters relating to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), including the nature of the disease, its causes and effects, the means of detecting it and preventing its transmission, and the availability of appropriate sources of counseling and referral, and any other information that may be appropriate considering the age and grade level of such pupils. The School Board shall supervise such training. The State Board of Education and the Department of Public Health shall jointly develop Standard for such training.

To conduct a teachers’ institute, to insure that instruction in the warning signs of suicidal behavior in adolescents and teens and intervention techniques are offered at such an institute, to aid and encourage the formation of other teachers’ meetings, and to assist in their management.

School guidance counselors, teachers, school social workers, and other school personnel who work with pupils in grades 7 through 12 shall be trained to identify the warning signs of mental illness and suicidal behavior in adolescents and teens and shall be taught various intervention techniques. Such training shall be provided within the framework of existing in-service training programs offered by the Board or as part of the professional development activities required under Section 21-14 of this Code [105 ILCS 5/21-14].

Toolkit addresses professional development on suicide prevention.