On-Demand Course

at your pace and convenience.

This course is approved for 3 continuing education (CE) hours. To earn CE hours, you will need to complete 1) all required course activities and 2) the course evaluation survey. A certificate of attendance will be made available on the Student Dashboard upon course completion.

What You'll Learn

After completing this course, you will be better prepared to:

  • summarize facts about suicide (e.g., trends, risks, protective factors, and warning signs);

  • describe the 5 Action Steps model of suicide prevention;

  • support persons experiencing suicidal thoughts;

  • identify resources and make referrals;

  • explain the importance of following up - within your role - with those who are at risk;

  • describe why sociocultural attunement is essential in suicide prevention;

  • ask someone directly about suicidal thoughts;

  • identify your own emotions and responses to others at risk of suicide; and

  • understand the importance of seeking support and supervision as needed.

A Note on This Course's Content

This course discusses suicide risk and prevention in the context of training for Traditional Health Workers. We recognize that some learners may bring personal or lived experience to this topic. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or visiting 988lifeline.org.

Who This Course Is For

Traditional Health Workers, broadly defined, and all those who help people and families navigate health care, connect with resources, build trust with providers, and access culturally responsive care.

  • Community Health Workers (CHW),

  • Peer Support Specialists (PSS), including Family Support Specialists, Youth Support Specialists, Recovery Peers, and Mental Health Peers,

  • Peer Wellness Specialist (PWS),

  • Birth Doulas,

  • Qualified Mental Health Associates (QMHA),

  • other Traditional Health Workers (THW).

What Is Included

This online training provides practical guidance for recognizing and responding to suicide risk with care, confidence, and compassion. You’ll learn about suicide trends, risk and protective factors, and warning signs, while developing skills for asking directly about suicidal thoughts and supporting someone who may be at risk. The course introduces the 5 Action Steps model of suicide prevention and explores how to connect individuals with appropriate resources, make referrals, and follow up within the boundaries of your role. You’ll also consider the importance of sociocultural awareness in suicide prevention, as well as how your own emotions and responses can affect this work.

  • The course includes case studies, skill demonstrations, presentations, and readings.

  • This course includes videos of experienced traditional health workers demonstrating clinical skills in scenarios adapted from real sessions. Clients are portrayed by actors. This provides authenticity while protecting client privacy.

  • We suggest you take your time, view content as many times as you like, and access suggested readings and resources when possible. It is not necessary to complete the course in a single sitting. You are free to open and close the course as many times as you like.

  • Once you have reviewed and mastered the content, you will be required to pass short quizzes before you are eligible for verification that you have successfully completed the course.

  • This 3-hour course is approved by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) for Traditional Health Workers and by MHACBO for continuing education. The course addresses suicide risk assessment, treatment, and management consistent with Oregon's suicide-prevention continuing education requirements under ORS 676.866. Licensed professionals should verify that the course meets the continuing education requirements of their licensing board.

Who Developed This Course

Instructor Yoli Flores

Yoli Flores, BS is a Cancer Research Training and Education Project Coordinator at Oregon Health and Science University. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the OHSU–PSU School of Public Health and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. Yoli has extensive experience in community health education and training. She previously served as Neighborhood Empowerment Manager at Lines for Life, advocating for equitable mental health access for Latinx communities. She specializes in serving Spanish-speaking populations, with a focus on addressing cultural, structural, and personal barriers to health care.

Senior Instructor Teresa McDowell

Teresa McDowell, EdD, LMFT is professor emerita at Lewis & Clark, where she served as department chair and co-founded the college’s Problem Gambling Services. With over 40 years of experience as a clinician, educator, administrator, and consultant, Teresa focuses on workforce development, equity-based clinical practice, integrated treatment for problem gambling, and clinical supervision. She is a social researcher, program evaluator, and consultant with Partners in Social Research and Senior Instructor for ACORN. Dr. McDowell has authored more than 50 scholarly publications and is lead author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Applying Third Order Thinking to Theory and Practice (3rd Ed., 2026).

Instructor Kitty Martz

Kitty Martz, CGRM, CGAC-II, MBA is an advocate and educator, serving as Executive Director of Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery in Portland, Oregon, and President of the Board of Directors for Oregon Council on Problem Gambling. With lived experience in gambling harms, she is a Certified Gambling Recovery Mentor and Certified Gambling Addiction Counselor II, a longtime SMART Recovery facilitator, and an Advanced Grief Recovery Method Specialist trained by the Beck Institute in CBT-based suicide prevention. Kitty supports peer recovery, develops curricula, delivers state and national trainings, and advances policy to mitigate gambling-related harm. Learn more at www.vpgr.net.

What Others Are Saying

5 star rating

Excellent information

Timothy Kazzee

Thank you for providing this information/training, it will be very helpful in my field of work.

Thank you for providing this information/training, it will be very helpful in my field of work.

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5 star rating

Practical, Compassionate, and Easy to Apply

arif soeprijono skep ns

This training does an excellent job of showing how to respond to youth in distress with empathy and care. The scenarios feel realistic, and the guidance is c...

Read More

This training does an excellent job of showing how to respond to youth in distress with empathy and care. The scenarios feel realistic, and the guidance is clear about what to say—and what to avoid—when someone is grieving or expressing vulnerability. I especially appreciated the emphasis on active listening, respecting the young person’s feelings, and not rushing to “fix” the situation. It helped reinforce the importance of building trust and creating a safe space for open conversation. Overall, it’s a valuable resource for anyone working with youth or supporting individuals through difficult emotional experiences.

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5 star rating

Suicide prevention

Nessa Bauer

Great break down of information.

Great break down of information.

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5 star rating

Suicide Prevention: Responding with Care

Carol Staats

This training is worth the time to take. Valuable information to help us change the way we think about handling suicide prevention.

This training is worth the time to take. Valuable information to help us change the way we think about handling suicide prevention.

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5 star rating

Great Course!

Colleen Webb

This course did a great job of keeping me engaged. It had a good balance of videos, quizes, audios, readings and exercises.

This course did a great job of keeping me engaged. It had a good balance of videos, quizes, audios, readings and exercises.

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4 star rating

lots of valuable information

doroteo grayson

n/a

5 star rating

I thought it was insightful and validated my trining from...

Anibal Galarza

The text was simply to understand

The text was simply to understand

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5 star rating

Very helpful CE course on suicide

Derrel Higgins

This course was very helpful. I was impressed with the quality of the course. The videos were authentic and dealt with the reality of working with clients wh...

Read More

This course was very helpful. I was impressed with the quality of the course. The videos were authentic and dealt with the reality of working with clients who are suicidal. I especially liked the inclusion of self-care and how to deal with the difficulties of being a health care worker dealing with suicide.

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5 star rating

I love Responding with Care.

alissa diamond

I thought the course was wonderful. it shows how u are doing a lot by not doing a lot.

I thought the course was wonderful. it shows how u are doing a lot by not doing a lot.

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5 star rating

Suicide Prevention

Mark Reichman

5 star rating

Great Training

Jenna Bozzetto

This training was very informative; I learned many useful suicide prevention skills.

This training was very informative; I learned many useful suicide prevention skills.

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5 star rating

Very valuable and useful

Kurt Kemmerer

This education module proved to be very helpful, as it gave real world strategies for working with patients, and showed real world interactions as examples. ...

Read More

This education module proved to be very helpful, as it gave real world strategies for working with patients, and showed real world interactions as examples. It is highly recommended.

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What About CE Hours

Certificate of completion will be made available on the Student Dashboard after you complete all required course activities and the course evaluation survey.

ACORN is approved by the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO), Provider ID: 26-0044, to provide continuing education courses. Although ACORN is approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) to provide continuing education training, this course does not qualify for NBCC credits.

Start Learning Today

Free of charge, courtesy of Oregon Health Authority.

Oregon Health Authority (OHA) logo
Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) logo
Oregon Council on Problem Gambling (OCPG) logo