Creating a Team of Gatekeeper Trainers to Promote Suicide Prevention on Campus

Gatekeepers are educated community members who are aware of the risks of suicide and are willing to help a person at risk to connect to resources that can provide further assessment and safety planning. The more alert gatekeepers we have in the community, the more likely persons at risk of suicide will be connected to resources to keep them safe. The purpose of the proposal is to examine the feasibility of certifying a team of ten CSUN faculty/staff/student leaders as safeTALK trainers who can promote campus suicide prevention gatekeeper trainings. SafeTALK is a 4-hour evidence based gatekeeper training that stands for Suicide Alertness for Everyone. The grant will offer the funds to train trainers that will work as a dedicated team to offer SafeTALK training to our campus community. Also all SafeTALK trainers are trained in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and can offer additional support for our community gatekeepers. With ten new trainers who will commit to conducting 3 safeTALK trainings over one year, we can easily train 1000 campus members and help create a suicide-safer community.