The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is pleased to announce Mental Health Topics for Pathways for the Prevention of Violence Virtual Training. This full day virtual training will consist of several modules to address mental health topics:
Participants will review the constructs of Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and explore the application of MTSS for the prevention of school violence. Through examples and applications of MTSS as a successful model of prevention, intervention, and postvention, participants will learn to identify and utilize systems of support within their school community to ensure student growth, wellness, and safety.
Emotional awareness and management are critical social-emotional competencies that support student growth and can help prevent emotional, behavioral, and mental health crises. Through scenario-based examples and activities, these concepts will be defined, and participants will learn how schools can support their students’ growth in these areas in a multi-tiered system of support that focuses on social-emotional learning.
Students experience a myriad of emotions as they progress through school. While most cope successfully with these feelings, many will harbor emotional pain so great that they have thoughts of suicide. In fact, approximately 50% of lifetime mental health conditions emerge by age 14 and 90% of deaths by suicide had an underlying mental illness. As mental health concerns increase, schools must be ready to address suicide prevention and intervention needs for all students.
Through scenario-based examples and activities, participants will learn how to identify risk and protective factors and warning signs of suicide. They will also learn how schools can support students at risk for suicide through implementation of MTSS such as, conducting suicide risk assessments, safety planning, and reintegrating students back into school after hospitalization. Additionally, best practices in suicide postvention will be defined and reviewed.
Students experience various forms and degrees of trauma as a result of death, illness, crisis, and loss, often affecting behavioral, social-emotional and academic growth, which can lead to harmful behaviors if unrecognized and untreated.
Through scenario-based examples and activities, participants will learn how to identify traumatic events, experience, and effects. A trauma-informed approach within a multi-tiered system of support will be described, and specific examples and resources will be provided in order to apply the concepts learned.
This training is intended for K-12 and IHE educators, school and campus security personnel, prevention providers, law enforcement, probation officers, school and campus administration, treatment professionals, counselors, student conduct professionals, prosecutors, residence life staff, and other interested school, campus or community personnel.
Partial In-service Credit (PIC) for law enforcement and school/campus security officers will be available.
Training runs from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The training will be hosted via Zoom.
There is no fee to attend this training. Pre-registration is required.
Please note that the DCJS registration system does not have the capacity to sort eligible from ineligible registrants. Therefore, anyone who registers will receive a confirmation. It is the responsibility of the DCJS assigned course director to review the roster and make a final determination on acceptance into the course. Registrants not accepted will be notified via the email address provided during registration.
Betsy Bell(804) 997-1658betsy.bell@dcjs.virginia.gov
Kristina Fawcett(804) 225-3948kristina.fawcett@dcjs.virginia.gov