The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is offering a Half-day workshop titled “Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention”.
This training is for educators, prevention providers, law enforcement, probation officers, school administration, treatment, and counselors. This training will provide insight into strategies for prevention, intervention and postvention for suicide in schools. This half-day workshop offered by DCJS will provide school leaders and law enforcement working in schools important information about suicide trends affecting the youth in our communities.
Students experience a roller coaster of emotions as they progress through school. While most cope successfully with these challenges, many will have emotional pain so great that they have thoughts of suicide. By the age of 14, approximately 50% of lifetime mental health concerns begin and 90% of deaths by suicide had an underlying mental illness. As mental and behavioral health concerns increase, educators must be ready to advocate and support the needs of their students and coworkers. This session will focus on the key elements of a model school suicide prevention program – prevention, intervention, and postvention.
This training is being offered at no cost to K-12 educators, prevention providers, law enforcement, probation officers, school administration, treatment professionals, and counselors.
Benjamin S. Fernandez, MS. Ed, completed his graduate studies in School Psychology at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) and has worked as a school psychologist in Pennsylvania and Virginia with over 21 years of experience as a practitioner. Currently, he works for Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) (Virginia) as a lead school psychologist providing leadership to school psychologists and a broad array of psychological and school-based mental health services including assessment, consultation, prevention and intervention. He is also responsible for the management of practicum students and the school psychology specialist level internship program. In addition to these duties, he is a PREPaRE WS1 and WS2 master trainer and is responsible for training LCPS school psychologists, school psychologist interns, school social workers, and school counselors. He also manages the coordination of crisis teams and the implementation of crisis intervention services by maintaining and updating the LCPS crisis team operations plan and team assignments. Additionally, he has contributed to presentations, articles, books, and webinars related to youth suicide, PREPaRE, and school safety and crisis. Benjamin conducts workshops on PREPaRE and trainings on school safety and crisis response on the local, state, and national levels. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the Federal Commission on School Safety, and was a member of Governor of Virginia’s Children’s Cabinet on Student Safety. In 2010, he was named School Psychologist of the Year by the Virginia Academy of School Psychologists and in 2012, he was named School Psychologist of the Year by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). In 2015 and 2018, Mr. Fernandez received the NASP Presidential Award. He also is a member and currently is the professional development lead for NASP’s School Safety and Crisis Response Committee.
Martha Montgomery is the School Psychology Specialist within the Office of Student Services at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). She supports state and local initiatives that advance student learning and achievement of all children. Enhancing the capacity of school psychologists and other specialized instructional support staff (SISP) to support the provision of a broad scope of services that support the academic, behavioral and social-emotional needs of all students is part of her mission. She supports the alignment of practices provided within the Virginia’s Tiered Systems of Support (VTSS) framework that include Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), trauma sensitive practices, culturally responsive methods, and mental health awareness. She collaborates with other state agencies to promote social-emotional learning, suicide prevention, bullying prevention, school mental health practices and equity in Virginia’s schools. Prior to coming to the VDOE, Ms. Montgomery served 24 years as a school psychologist in Virginia’s public schools.
Law enforcement officers serving in schools who complete this workshop are eligible to receive partial in-service credit hours.
There is no fee to attend this workshop. All training materials will be provided.
Participants are responsible for their transportation, meals, and lodging arrangements and expenses.
Pre-registration is required.