ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training - ASIST is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first-aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may be at risk of suicide and work with them to create a plan to support their immediate safety. 

The program uses an evidence-based curriculum from Living Works Education focused on intervention. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, you don’t need formal training to participate in the workshop. Any individual aged 16 and older, including teachers, students, doctors, mental health professionals, parents, and others, can become ASIST-trained.

Participants will learn how to safely engage with community members who are having thoughts of suicide to help them find “safety for now” and assist them in accessing community-based resources and supports. Participants will also learn how to use language which does not perpetuate stigma associated with having thoughts or feelings about suicide, gain an understanding of how common suicidal thoughts and actions are in our community, and connect with community resources. Another important aspect of the training is prevention - working to build a suicide-safer community by learning warning signs for suicide and how to integrate resilience and connection to prevent thoughts of suicide in our community.

The ASIST training treats suicide as the public health issue that it is. ASIST training is comparable to CPR training – anyone in the community may be in a position to render CPR, and ASIST is similarly versatile. 

Click here to learn more about ASIST.

 For more information, or to register for an upcoming class please contact Tara Young at (207) 812-2090 or email tara@healthyacadia.org.