- Offer one-time presentation with a great storyteller that “raises awareness” but not much else.
- Offer an “Employee Assistance Program” or other community resource but have no idea what’s involved or if it’s any good.
- Offer an on-line or one-off “training” that does not provide opportunities for skill building.
- Understand suicide prevention only through a medicalized mental health disorder framework.
- Believe only mental health professionals can make a difference.
- Use canned, off-the-shelf approaches.
- Rely only on so-called “experts”.
Develop customized strategies that feel by, about and for the community.
- Empower communities to take informed action and build internal capacity.
- Offer a stratified training program at the basic and advanced levels and reinforce skill-building over the long-term.