NOI for Suicide Prevention Training

A five-day T4T course is the first phase of becoming a Registered Suicide Intervention Trainer. During the first two days, participants will experience (or re-experience) ASIST as any participant would. An appreciation of the participant’s perspective is essential to their success as a trainer. Participation in ASIST at T4T also provides a common experience to frame the work for the rest of the course. Moreover, there is always something new to learn from participation in ASIST.

This is one of the elements that make being a trainer so rewarding. Every ASIST is different, primarily because ASIST is designed to bring out and work with the particular perspectives and skills that new participants bring to each ASIST. At the end of ASIST, a brief transition session will be held to give you a quick overview of the schedule for the next three days, which is presented Wednesday morning. A copy of the ASIST Trainer Manual will also be distributed.

Participants will be given several homework assignments for that evening. This change will clearly signal the transition from participation to training. The third and fourth days have morning, afternoon, and evening schedules. Part of the morning of the third day is used to debrief the ASIST portion of the course and introduce them to the other members of the T4T team. (During the last three days of T4T, participants will work with the training team on a ratio of one Training Coach per five to six candidates.)

The afternoon and evening times are coaching sessions for the “dress rehearsal” presentations of ASIST components in the mornings of the fourth and fifth days. Participants will need to attend an evening coaching session on one of these days and an afternoon coaching session on the other. Their particular schedule can only be determined on-site. Prior commitments can usually be accommodated but they will find that they need their unscheduled time for informal rehearsal. The last afternoon will focus on the expectations of a trainer and the organizing, planning, preparation, and presentation aspects of conducting ASIST.