What Is This Course?
This is a 1 hour class providing an in-depth overview of the Caring Message way to show care - a simple way to help people feel more connected. It can even reduce the risk of suicide.
Best Online Experience
Please use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox for best course experience (Internet Explorer or Edge can cause problems). See FAQ for more info.
Who Should Participate?
Healthcare service providers, those who struggle with mental health and substances, and their loved ones are welcome to take the course. However, you do not have to be personally impacted to take this class.
Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be prepared to:
- Relay history of caring contacts research to others at work
- Send prepared caring contacts to those at risk for suicide
- Identify potential obstacles and success strategies for using caring contacts at your organization
Completion Requirements
Students are asked to complete the online class, as well as complete a Final Exam and Course Evaluation with attendance attestation. As part of participation you also agree to complete a 1-month and 3-month follow-up assessment sent via email [under development].
Educational Hours Certificate
All students who successfully complete the course will receive a free certificate of participation.
Quality Improvement and Research
As part of this course your data will be used to inform course improvements. Your de-identified data may be used for research purposes (i.e. to evaluate the impact of the training). Data Examples: surveys results, engagement and participation descriptives, and demographic information
Course Curriculum
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StartElements: NON-DEMANDING*
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StartElements: KINSHIP*
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StartElements: BRIEF*
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StartElements: REPEATED*
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StartMessage Ideas
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StartPractice: FRIEND*
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StartReview: FRIEND*
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StartPass It: TEACHING OTHERS*
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StartPractice: PATIENT*
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StartReview: PATIENT*
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StartObstacles
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StartCBS News Special - Part 4
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StartResources
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StartGoodbye Friend
Frequently Asked Questions
Your Instructor
Dr. Ursula Whiteside is a licensed clinical psychologist, CEO of NowMattersNow.org and Clinical Faculty at the University of Washington. As a researcher, she has been awarded grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. NowMattersNow.org is a website she developed with colleagues that includes skills for managing suicidal thoughts based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and paired with Lived Experience stories.
Clinically, she began her training with Dr. Marsha Linehan in 1999 and later served as a DBT-adherent research therapist on a NIMH-funded clinical trial led by Dr. Linehan. Dr. Whiteside is a group and individual certified DBT clinician. Now, she treats high-risk suicidal clients in her small private practice in Seattle using DBT and caring contacts.
Dr. Whiteside is national faculty for the Zero Suicide initiative, a practical approach to suicide prevention in health care and behavioral healthcare systems. This program was recently described by NPR on a segment titled “What Happens If You Try to Prevent Every Single Suicide?” Dr. Whiteside serves on the faculty of the National Action Alliance Zero Suicide Academy. She is also a founding board member of United Suicide Survivors International.
As a person with Lived Experience, she strives to decrease the gap between "us and them" and to ensure that the voices of those who have been there are included in all relevant conversations: nothing about us without us.