Sergio Morales is the Associate Vice President of Programs for Essential Access Health and the President of the Board of Directors for the California School-Based Health Alliance. He has more than 20 years of experience working in community health and building innovative health programs with an emphasis on improving the health and well-being of communities of color, adolescents, and LGBTQ+ communities.

Monica Nepomuceno has been an Education Programs Consultant at the California Department of Education (CDE) for 14 years. Her areas of expertise are building relationships with local, state, and national partners to increase awareness of mental health issues in school communities and helping to build support and resources to address student and staff needs. Her role at the CDE helps her foster connections and leverage resources to help non-traditional partners connect with education.

Recorded Presentation

California Department of Education: Suicide Prevention Webinar Series

Statewide Suicide Postvention Response Team
CDE’s Statewide Suicide Postvention Response Team (SSPRT), a prong of the CDE’s Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup’s (SMHPW) Suicide Prevention Committee. The SSPRT was formed to support districts in navigating the journey after a youth or staff suicide. The primary goal of the SSPRT is to offer support and guide a district affected by a suicide through this difficult and confusing period. The SSPRT will serve as a support with whom districts can talk about the process of postvention. The team will ensure affected LEAs receive accurate and timely information, resources to fill in gaps identified; assistance with messaging to staff, parents, students, and the media; and help them find ways to support staff, parents, and students. Our mission is to help LEAs build their capacity and connect them to their local resources, connect them to their COE, county behavioral health department, and community mental health and suicide prevention/postvention resources. During the pandemic, the SSPRT has been able to support and guide several LEAs and schools through the postvention process and in strengthening their prevention and intervention practices. There is no funding to support this group- all members are volunteer subject matter experts and advocates.

LivingWorks Start Online Suicide Prevention Training
The CDE, San Diego County Office of Education, and LivingWorks are offering the 90-minute LivingWorks Start Online Suicide Prevention Training available to middle and high school staff and students. The training helps participants learn to recognize when a young person might be experiencing emotional distress or having thoughts of suicide, and teaches them how to connect them to professional help. Students benefit greatly from this training since they often seek help from each other, particularly during school closures when access to school-based counseling services and mental health services is limited. This training was made available by AB 1808 to help LEAs meet the training requirements of their suicide prevention policy. We will be hosting another student event, Mind Out Loud, during Student Mental Health Week in May to engage more students in completing the training. If you are a middle or high school teacher, staff, or student, please visit the LivingWorks website to access the training.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) Trainings
The CDE has been delivering Youth Mental Health First Aid Trainings, at no cost to LEAs/ The training teaches youth-serving adults (administrators, teachers, nurses, counselors, coaches, secretaries, campus monitors, yard supervisors, registrars, lunch staff, bus drivers, and leaders of faith communities, law enforcement, parents, and youth employers, etc.) how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders in youth. This training gives participants the skills they need to reach out and provide initial support to children and adolescents (ages 6-18) who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and help connect them to the appropriate care. The CDE is has offered virtual YMHFA Trainings, at no cost, to LEAs, schools, and community organizations. The trainings are made available with funding from SAMHSA, Blue Shield of California’s Blue-Sky Initiative and participant registration/manuals are generously donated by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Since March 2020, we have delivered 60 trainings to over 1,000 participants.
To schedule a YMHFA training, please send an email to YMHFA@cde.ca.gov.

Help for Students in Crisis Web Page
At the onset of school closures, the CDE created the Help for Students in Crisis web page that contains helpful resources for addressing mental health and wellness while school sites are closed and/or if parents or staff are looking to support a student in crisis during, at any point.

Project Cal-STOP: Free Violence Prevention Trainings for Schools
Partnering with Sandy Hook Promise, a national non-profit organization, the CDE Project Cal-STOP offers two 45-minute virtual trainings at no cost to schools: 1) Start With Hello trains and empowers secondary students on how to recognize social isolation within their classroom and school, reach out and help, and Start With Hello; and 2) Say Something trains and empowers secondary students on how to look for warning signs and threats—especially in social media—to act immediately and take it seriously, and Say Something to a trusted adult. Ongoing supports are also offered to schools to set up SAVE Promise Clubs on campus to empower students to address social isolation and build student connectedness.

California Healthy Kids Survey Fact Sheet 16: How Are Student Reported Health Behavior, School Developmental Supports, and School Safety Related to Sadness and Suicidal Thoughts?

Sidra Goldman-Mellor, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of California, Merced, where she also serves as the Director of the Biostatistics and Data Support Core. Trained as an epidemiologist, her research focuses on the social, clinical, and economic determinants and outcomes of suicidal behavior and other mental health problems across the life course. Her work is regularly featured on media outlets including the Sacramento Bee and NPR.

Recorded Presentation

Presentation Slides

Suicide & Language – Information on terms to use to reduce stigma.

Stan Collins has worked in the suicide prevention and postvention field for over 20 years and is the co-founder of the Directing Change Program and Film Contest. Currently, he is working as a consultant, focusing on supporting the creation and implementation of suicide prevention curriculums and strategies. Stan is part of the California Department of Education’s workgroup that developed the “Model Policy for Youth Suicide Prevention” in response to AB2246.

Recorded Presentation

Presentation Slides

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools 

Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner’s Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, Postvention 

Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools

The K12 Toolkit for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention

Sierra Don is the Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer of Mogli’s Movers. A Fresno native, she has extensive professional dance and movement experience and is currently an apprentice in the Limón Dance Company ProLaunch program.

Jennifer Parra is a Neighborhood Fitness Coordinator at Every Neighborhood Partnership in Fresno. She loves teaching parents about dance and fitness, which they then can take back and teach to their children and community.

Destiny Walker is a Teaching Artist with Mogli’s Movers. As a dance instructor for the City of Carson, she is bringing the same opportunities and experience she received as a child to her students. Destiny is pursuing her master’s degree in applied behavior analysis and certification in recreational therapy.

Healthy Minds Healthy Bodies Resources

NAMI On-Campus Clubs are student-led clubs that address mental health issues at high schools and on college campuses by raising mental health awareness, educating the community, supporting students, and promoting services. These clubs are open to all students, whether they live with a mental health condition, are a family member or friend, or have a general interest in mental health.

• Paul Mirmingos (club advisor), Fresno Central High School-East’s NAMI On-Campus Club
• Emily Avila (club member)
• Shaelynn Yang (club member)

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NAMI On Campus Clubs

NAMI Guides

Hinds Hospice Survivors of Suicide Loss & the LOSS Team

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Presentation Slides

LOSS Team Referral Form

Hinds Hospice Grief Support Groups Summer 2021 – Invitation Letter & Flyer

Developmental Responses to Grief

Hinds Hospice Teen Grief Support Group Summer 2021

Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork: How Collaboration Can Improve Youth Suicide Prevention Efforts

Recorded Presentation

Presentation Slides

Fresno County Suicide Prevention Overview Video: A Local Perspective

Fresno Cares

Fresno County Community-Based Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan

Ahmad Bahrami is currently the Division Manager of Public Behavioral Health for the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health, as well as the Cultural Competency and Ethnic Services Manager for the Department. His team oversees the county’s suicide prevention efforts, including community and public relations, outreach and education, management of the Mental Health Services Act, and addresses health disparities within the system of care. Ahmad is a member of the California Department of Education’s Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup.

Brandy Lidbeck is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and helped develop and lead the Local Outreach to Survivors of Suicide (LOSS) Team in the Central Valley. As a two-time suicide-loss survivor herself, Brandy is passionate about reaching survivors and connecting them with the support and resources that were not available to her at the time of her own losses. Brandy currently serves as the Chair of the Fresno County Suicide Prevention Collaborative (Fresno Cares) and is also the author of The Gift of Second: Healing from the Impact of Suicide.

Trish Small is the Senior Director of the Pupil Personnel Services Department for the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, where she oversees the provision of school psychologist services, All 4 Youth Trauma and Resilience Trainings, and tiered systems of support trainings. She is a champion of increasing access to mental health supports for underserved populations and integrating systems. Trish is one of the founding members of the Behavioral Health Leadership Team and Behavioral Health Partnership Contract.

Candice Wilkins is a Clinical Social Worker and the Manager of the Center for Grief and Healing at Hinds Hospice, which includes management of the Survivors of Suicide Loss program. She has been with Hinds Hospice for seven years and in her free time enjoys spending time with her family and her Havanese dog, Mr. Chill.

Ashley Mills is a Research Supervisor with California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. She currently is the lead staff on the Commission’s prevention and early intervention initiative, and was the lead author of Striving for Zero: California’s Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention, 2020–2025. Prior to joining the Commission, Ashley held positions with the California Department of Justice and the California Governor’s Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy.

Recorded Presentation

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Striving for Zero Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention

Every Young Heart & Mind: Schools as Centers of Wellness

Stan Collins has worked in the suicide prevention and postvention field for over 20 years and is the co-founder of the Directing Change Program and Film Contest. Currently, he is working as a consultant, focusing on supporting the creation and implementation of suicide prevention curriculums and strategies. Stan is part of the California Department of Education’s workgroup that developed the “Model Policy for Youth Suicide Prevention” in response to AB2246.

Recorded Presentation

Presentation Slides

Directing Change Program

Know the Signs | Reconozca las Señales

Suicide Prevention Resource Center: Patient Safety Plan Template

National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention: Framework for Successful Messaging

Reporting on Suicide: Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide