Our mental health team is working hard to put together a crisis response program.
As part of this, we have decided to all get trained to administer the COLUMBIA-SUICIDE SEVERITY RATING SCALE (C-SSRS). I was amazed at how much I learned in one 30 minute web-training.
The nice part is that it’s available to anyone and is free!
What do you do when a student comes into your office saying they cut himself/herself last night? What do you do when they tell you they took a bunch of their mom’s pills?
You need a plan for response. Over the 21 years I have been a counselor, I have had many students seek me out with these situations. It is sad t say that up until now, we have had no formal rating scale to use with students to determine their level of crisis. While I am still no expert, I do feel comfortable in using this assessment as a starting point for further referral. The training also has several case studies to help explain the difference between what is and what is not a suicide attempt. If you are a counselor working with students, this is a good training to help with your school’s own crisis response protocol.
Below you will find a picture of the website with links to the training. You will also see my completion certificate and the rating scale.
While I hope that I never have to use this, I know we are are prepared. I want to add that in our district we would do this as a team with another counselor for collaboration and consultation. Never go solo in a crisis situation. Always have backup.
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| (Click picture to go to web link) |
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| (Click picture to go to the web link) |
I hope to post more about our crisis plan, but for now it is still a work in progress. In the meantime, how prepared is your school? What procedures do you have in place?
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