Professional Development & Training

Our Community Education department offers training for adults aimed at building knowledge and skills meant to prevent suicide and respond to crisis.  Workshop participants include school professionals, health care practitioners, police, health and emergency services staff, youth workers, senior peer counselors, and youth workers.
We currently offer the following workshops, and can tailor to the needs of the organization:

Knowledge becomes highly useful when we apply it within the context of our own experiences.  We utilize a variety of approaches aimed at facilitating active learning.  Our goal is to maximize opportunities for participants to actively engage with all key content areas. The nature of this engagement varies with the broader learning objectives of each workshop group and can include:

  • Facilitated large group discussions;
  • Small group explorations;
  • Full group and dyad role plays;
  • Case studies; and
  • Personal sharing and short presentations.

See what our participants said about our workshops.

Please call at least two weeks in advance to ensure our availability matches your needs. We offer ASIST training periodically throughout the year at the Crisis Centre and can also be booked at off-site locations.  For more information please call 604-872-1811 or email lripley@crisiscentre.bc.ca.

Cost:

Cost varies depending on the situation, needs of the organization and length of the training.   Sessions are suitable for groups of 8-25 participants.

Please contact Lu Ripley at lripley@crisiscentre.bc.ca or 604-872-1811 to discuss how we can tailor a workshop to your organization’s needs.

What participants say about our professional development training:

“The Crisis Centre taught and facilitated the ‘Suicide Module’ for us… In my fifteen years of experience as Housing Manager, this module has never been presented and facilitated so well. I support their operation whole heartedly and commend them on the excellent service they offer to the community.”

Tom Moore, Housing Manager, BCIT
“[The] teaching methods were simple, interactive, and very effective. [The workshop] gave me tools to help me do my job better as well as a strategy to prevent burnout and take care of myself…[It] helped me to see clearly the line between myself and my clients and helped me define my counselling strategy better. It was a pleasure and a privilege to participate in [the] workshop.”

Community Health Nurse

“This is one of the best professional development workshops I have ever attended, since we did not spend all day examining the problem; we worked towards solutions which can be tailored to our own creative approach.”

Counsellor

“I learned so much during the past two days of ASIST training.  The instructors were professional and approachable.  I learned how to intervene with a suicide outside of my work and with my clients as a mental health and addictions worker.  The role playing, simulations and feedback was very good.  I would recommend this training to my colleagues.”

Mental Health and Addictions worker

“ASIST is a great workshop for anyone working with people that could be at risk for personal harm.”

Police officer

“The facilitator did a great job keeping the workshop interesting.  I have come to recognize that I don’t have to be afraid to ask if someone is thinking about suicide.”
Youth worker