RAPID CITY - The Front Porch Coalition will host a professional suicide prevention training seminar Wednesday, Oct. 10.

The annual training session focuses on sucide intervention strategies for mental health professionals. The training will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Howard Johnson Express Inn & Suites at 950 North Street.

"This workshop is an important training opportunity for mental health professionals working directly with people who may be suicidal, as it will teach best practices standards for crisis interventions in clinical settings," Stephanie Schweitzer Dixon, Front Porch Coalition's Community Services Director, said. "It is an important component to the suicide prevention program that the organization is bringing to the community."

The interactive workshop will address suicide crisis intervention strategies for mental health professionals working in clinical and nonclinical settings.

Using ecological and public health models, it will focus on biological, psychological, social and cultural risk factors, assessing urgency and risk, and legal and ethical frameworks for suicidal crisis intervention. It will culminate with a discussion of resource referral networks and procedures.

Although the objectives of the training are to address the attitude, skills and knowledge appropriate for mental health professionals dealing with suicide crisis situations, anybody working in direct service with individuals who may be at-risk for suicide are encouraged to attend. This would include social workers; counselors; emergency medical service workers; school personnel including school counselors, school nurses, teachers; youth and family service workers; members of the clergy; any healthcare provider; law enforcement personnel; correctional officers; and any other professional working directly with individuals displaying at-risk health behaviors.

Dr. Peter Wollheim, a professor from Boise (Idaho) State University will speak at this year's seminar. Wollheim is an associate professor with the Department of Communications at Boise State University. He is an American Association of Suicidology Certified Crisis Worker. He serves as a founding board member of the Suicide Prevention Action Network Idaho, co-chairman of the Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention, member of the Idaho Governor's Commission on Mental Health Communities, member of the Idaho State Suicide Prevention Team, and a member of the Boise State University Mental Health Incident Review Team.

Wollheim is currently the director of the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline, where he has also served as a board member and president. He is a suicide prevention consultant for the Idaho Department of Education and the Boise School District. He also served as executive director for the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline.

Wollheim has received numerous academic awards as well as a number of services awards, including the Idaho Planning Council of Mental Health Award and Media Award, NAMI Idaho Award for Education and Service, Boise State University Scholar Award for Public Service, and numerous faculty research grants and scholar awards. He has also received two Idaho Press Clubs first-place awards for investigative journalism for issues facing the mentally ill in rural states such as Idaho. His academic papers on suicide prevention have been presented at international, national and regional conferences.

The registration fee for the training seminar is $75 per participant. If five or more participants are registered from an organization, the registration fee will be $65 per participant. Continuing education credits will be given at the end of the training from the South Dakota Board of Counselor Examiners, South Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners, Certification Board for Alcohol and Drug Professionals, and the South Dakota Board of Emergency Medical Services.

Preregistration is strongly encouraged. For more information or to register for the training, e-mail the Front Porch Coalition at info@frontporchcoalition.org, call 348-6692, or mail your registration to 401 3^rd Street, Rapid City, SD 57701.

Please include your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number as contact information in the event any information needs to be sent to the participants - as well as the number of participants attending from your organization - along with a check to cover the registration fees.

For more information, contact Schweitzer Dixon at 348-6692 or info@frontporchcoalition.org.