A 4-hour in-person course for all in the community to becoming suicide alert. Using four basic ‘TALK’ steps – Tell, Ask, Listen and Keepsafe participants gain confidence to be “nosy” and approach a person that could be thinking about suicide. The focus is to connect with a person with thoughts of suicide and to keep the person safe while connecting them to a resource capable of ensuring safety over time such as a family member, an ASIST trained person or a mental health professional. LivingWorks safeTALK is for anyone aged 15 years + who wants to promote suicide safety, regardless of previous experience or background.

FOCUS: Suicide alertness training for the community
DURATION: 3 hours–4 hours (half a day)
LANGUAGES: English and French
PARTICIPANTS: Anyone 15 or older
TRAINERS: One trainer and one community resource person per 15–30 participants

Goals and objectives
safeTALK helps participants become alert to suicide. Suicide-alert people are better prepared to connect persons with thoughts of suicide with life-affirming help. Over the course of their training,
safeTALK participants will learn to:

• Notice and respond to situations where suicide thoughts may be present,
• Recognize that invitations for help are often overlooked,
• Move beyond the common tendency to miss, dismiss, and avoid suicide,
• Apply the TALK steps: Tell, Ask, Listen, KeepSafe, and
• Know community resources and how to connect someone with thoughts of suicide to them for further suicide-safer help.

Training process
safeTALK features both presentations and interactive elements. Trainers will facilitate participants’ involvement through:

• Trainer presentations
• Diverse selection of audiovisuals
• Interactive discussion and questions
• TALK steps practice
• TALK wallet card
• “You can TALK to Me” stickers