Join us for From Hesitation to Help: A Collaborative Approach to Lethal Means Safety Conversations in Clinical Practice, a live 3-hour webinar designed to equip mental health clinicians with the tools and knowledge to utilize lethal means safety counseling as a method of suicide prevention. This training emphasizes actionable strategies, client collaboration, and a deeper understanding of the cultural and societal factors surrounding lethal means.
About The Training
- Earn 2.75 CEs, approved by APA & ASWB. To be eligible to earn CEs, participants must attend the full webinar and pass a final 20-question post-test with a score of at least 75%.
- Cost: No Cost; Training and CEs are free to all learners.
- Target Audience: Mental health professionals and graduate-level students, specifically those serving military, veteran, or military family members and/or clients at risk for suicide.
- Content Level: Intermediate.
Learning Objectives:
Following completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Describe the rationale for lethal means safety as a method of suicide prevention.
- Apply a culturally sensitive framework to understand the function and meaning of means for a specific client.
- Use direct questions to understand client’s relationships to their firearms.
- Identify at least 2 safe storage options for storing firearms.
- Identify at least 1 safe storage option for storing medication.
- Demonstrate the integration of Lethal Means Safety into clinical approaches to suicide safety planning.
Registration Details
This clinical training will be offered at three different time sessions to accommodate learners in various time zones. Please note: all sessions will cover the same content, so you only need to register for one.
May 21, 2025 (Wed) at 10am-1pm ET / 7am-10am PT
Instructors: Venée Hummel, LCSW & Natasha Schauer, LCSW
June 17, 2025 (Tue) at 12-3pm ET / 9am-12pm PT
Instructors: Venée Hummel, LCSW & Rakiya Ruiz, LCSW
July 16, 2025 (Wed) at 3-6pm ET / 12pm-3pm PT
Instructors: Nichole Ayres, DSW & Moises Lozacruz, LICSW
Thank you to Face the Fight for providing funding to support this training and promoting high quality care for veterans and military family members.
Additional Training Information
Course Description
This 3-hour live Zoom webinar will address lethal means safety counseling as a method of suicide prevention. Participants will be introduced to the acute problem of suicide and the concepts and science of lethal means safety, including nuanced considerations of how to navigate client culture, values, and experience related to lethal means. The workshop will cover principles and strategies relevant to increasing safety with any potentially lethal means; however, special attention will be paid to firearms, firearm culture, and safe storage due to the lethality of firearms in a suicidal crisis and the high proportion of suicide deaths via firearm. Content attends directly to the military, veteran, and military family population, including a spotlight on expert insights into lethal means safety with women veterans. Participants will view newly developed video examples of clinical conversations about lethal means. Trainers will introduce and demonstrate concrete strategies related to assessing access to lethal means, engaging and motivating clients to participate in lethal means safety conversations, and integrating lethal means safety into Safety Planning. Participants will be able to ask real-time questions and share comments via Zoom chat and Q&A features.
Following completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Describe the theoretical and scientific underpinnings of means safety as a method of suicide prevention.
- Illustrate how cultural factors related to firearm ownership impact lethal means safety conversations.
- List 2 considerations relevant to conducting lethal means safety counseling with women veterans.
- Demonstrate a clinical conversation about lethal means access and safety practices
- Identify 3 safe storage practices for firearms.
- Demonstrate the integration of lethal means counseling into Safety Planning.
Training Schedule
- Training Introduction, Objectives, & Guiding Principles (15 mins)
- Understanding Suicide & Rationale for Lethal Means Safety (20 mins)
- Means Selection & Firearms (15 mins)
- Raising the Issue & Assessing for Lethal Means (15 mins)
- BREAK (15 mins)
- Introducing & Motivating Lethal Means Safety (40 mins)
- Making a Plan, Review & Document (40 mins)
- Wrap-Up & Questions (10 mins)
System Requirements
Participants are required to attend individually on separate devices. We recommend you attend via a desktop computer and not a mobile device. Additional requirements:
- A strong internet connection
- An operating system and web browser that supports Zoom (please refer to Zoom system requirements here).
Commercial Support/Conflicts of Interest
Cohen Veterans Network received a grant from the Face the Fight coalition in order to fund the development and distribution of this training. CVN has no other commercial support or conflicts of interest to disclose.
Contact the CVN Training Team
Questions, comments, concerns, grievances, and requests for accommodation:
Please email the CVN Training Team at [email protected].
Meet the Instructors
- Describe the rationale for lethal means safety as a method of suicide prevention.
- Apply a culturally sensitive framework to understand the function and meaning of means for a specific client.
- Use direct questions to understand client’s relationships to their firearms.
- Identify at least 2 safe storage options for storing firearms.
- Identify at least 1 safe storage option for storing medication.
- Demonstrate the integration of Lethal Means Safety into clinical approaches to suicide safety planning.
Our sessions are led by clinical professionals with hands-on experience and extensive knowledge in suicide prevention strategies.
This training will be delivered live via the Zoom Webinar platform. Participants will be able to interact with trainers in real time by asking questions via Zoom Q&A and participating in the Zoom Chat.
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