Racial/ethnic minoritized (REM) youth represent a high-risk group for suicide, yet there are striking disparities in their use of mental health services (MHS) even after risk is identified in schools. Prior research suggests that school-based risk assessments and hospitalization encounters can be negatively experienced by REM youth and families,…

For the last decade, there has been growing concern regarding the rising rates of youth engagement in self-injury and suicide. The worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has elevated these concerns due to increased risk factors pertaining to social, family, economic, and health stressors, in addition to changes to typical…

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, CT (USA) has brought the conversation about how to reduce violence, make schools safer, improve school climate, and increase access to mental health services to the forefront of the national conversation. Advocating for comprehensive initiatives to address school safety, school climate, and…

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program was first developed to reduce violence in encounters between the police and people with mental illness as well as provide improved access to mental health services. Although there is overwhelming popular support for this intervention, scant empirical evidence of its effectiveness is…

Purpose of this paper is to present a set of guidelines, recommendations, and procedures suitable for implementation by university mental health workers in response to campus panic reactions. (Authors/CB)

Mental health workers are critically examining modes of service delivery. Crisis intervention offers a way to apply to mental health problems some concepts of primary prevention that have been successful in the public health field. (Author)

The shift in mental health delivery systems from a centralized to a decentralized community-based system requires quality service standards from both a professional and a service implementation viewpoint. The present paper sets forth the basic and preliminary structure for standards for crisis outreach services. Definitions are presented which…

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline was launched in January 2005. Lifeline, supported by a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, consists of a network of more than 120 crisis centers located in communities across the country that are committed to suicide prevention. Lifeline's Certification and…

In order to provide information for those beginning a center, 253 centers were surveyed regarding five major aspects of crisis center operations: screening procedures for telephone listener-counselor applicants, training procedures, services offered, types of calls received, and financing. Resources for further information and for better…

A therapeutic technique for dealing with a chronic caller to a suicide prevention center was tested. The two objectives to such a technique were to reduce the frequency of calls made by chronic callers to the suicide prevention service, and to persuade callers to be more specific when discussing their problem. To accomplish these objectives, a…

Worker and caller behaviors are studied and compared in sample of 100 suicide calls to three crisis intervention centers. Verbal behaviors of workers and callers are substantially different, leading to the conclusion that crisis intervention is dissimilarly practiced between centers but similar within them. (Author)

Crisis intervention is a now accepted form of brief therapy that has become the treatment of choice for many individuals seeking to cope more effectively with life stresses. Recently, there has been an evolution of several disparate styles of crisis intervention in the direction of one convergent model. The screening/assessment style that…

Everytime an emergency telephone rings, the telephone worker may be faced with a life-threatening situation. An important decision facing the worker is whether to handle any given crisis call over the telephone, or to opt for a face-to-face contact. An inaccurate assessment or evaluation of a high-risk situation could contribute to serious…

The Crisis Health Aide program described in this article is an outgrowth of the University of Nebraska Health Center's Aide program. (Authors/CB)

Literature review indicates general lack of success of mental health efforts due, in part, to formalized approach, bureaucratic procedures, excessive expectations. Success possible with small team supported by medical center and working closely with school. (CJ)