Confident & Competent Suicide Prevention Training Series - Ōtautahi - Christchurch (CC2026/18)

CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT SUICIDE PREVENTION TRAINING To reduce the high rates of suicide in this country a workforce confident and competent in assessing risk and providing ongoing support to suicidal people is essential. Recent coroners’ findings highlighted the need for workers in the health, social services and counselling/psychotherapy sectors to regularly update their knowledge and competency in suicide risk assessment and intervention. This training should be a core component of practitioners’ ongoing professional development. Advanced practitioners such as counsellors, psychotherapists and clinicians should not only be knowledgeable about suicide risk assessment but also highly competent in undertaking an assessment and assessing the level of risk. The training attended should match the worker's scope of practice. Those working in the non-mental health sectors must be also be competent in making an informed referral to crisis services.They must also be up to date in their competency and capability to engage with the suicidal individual. This advanced-level workshop address the concerns raised by coroners and are designed for clinicians counsellors and psychotherapists. Rather than a siloed approach to assessment and support strategies, this training emphasises the interconnection of the two and presents them as part of the continuum of suicide intervention and care. Designed specifically for the New Zealand context, this training is being recommended by counsellors all over the country as a must attend workshop.