LivingWorks safeTALK Training

Format

Individual Presentation

Format

Workshop

Presenters

Samuel J. Smith, LivingWorks Education USAFollow

First Presenter's Institution

LivingWorks Education

First Presenter’s Email Address

sam.smith@livingworks.net

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Sam Smith is a Suicide Prevention Manager with LivingWorks Education covering the Central United States with over ten years’ experience in Suicide Prevention Management. Sam’s area of expertise is with Veterans (retired Air Force, 23-years), Education (10-years in the classroom) and Rural Communities (owns and operates family farm). He Graduated from William Woods University with a master’s in education administration and Liberty University with his master’s in divinity, Pastoral Counseling. Sam lives in rural Missouri with his wonderful wife Kimberly and their beautiful daughter Samantha. When not working Sam and his family will be found at a rodeo watching Samantha barrel race. Sam’s career with LivingWorks Education started in 2014 when he attended Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) T4T. After this initial training he was hooked and quickly began training ASIST in both military and civilian settings. He furthered his trainer role in 2015 becoming a safeTALK trainer and quickly establishing the Pilot Program for safeTALK in the National Guard. Sam went on to write grants focusing on Suicide Prevention through intervention by utilizing both ASIST and safeTALK. On January 2023 he accepted the position as Central US Suicide Prevention Manager for LivingWorks Education USA.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Westbrook

Strand #1

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

The fundamental rationale for safeTALK is that community vigilance about suicide, and universal alertness to people who may be considering suicide, are essential foundations for suicide-safer communities. Help-seeking and opportunities to provide help often present first within informal relationships among peers, within families, in social settings such as places of study, recreation, and work, or in the aftermath of impactful events. Accordingly, safeTALK is positioned within the gatekeeper training tradition as a community-based suicide intervention program, focused particularly on engaging informal helpers. These helpers learn how to be more alert to communications inviting help and to facilitate open and honest conversations about suicide. They also learn how to identify and access connections to people and suicide first-aid services that can help them Keep Safe and get further assistance. The defining construct for the program is suicide safety. A paper1 on the literature supporting the rationale for safeTALK and its key concepts is available on LivingWorks’ website, www.livingworks.net.

Brief Program Description

safeTALK is a half-day training in suicide alertness. It helps participants recognize a person with thoughts of suicide and connect them with resources who can help them in choosing to live. Participants don’t need any formal preparation to attend the training—anyone age 15 or older who wants to make a difference can learn the safeTALK steps.

Summary

LivingWorks safeTALK is a four-hour training that equips people to be more alert to someone thinking of suicide and better able to connect them with further help. Using a simple yet effective model, LivingWorks safeTALK empowers everyone to make a difference. With over 120,000 people attending each year, it’s the world’s fastest-growing suicide prevention skills training course.

In LivingWorks safeTALK you will learn how to reach out to someone thinking about suicide and help them keep safe by promptly connecting them to further support. Your role as a connector is the main focus of this training, which features;

• Trainer presentations, facilitated discussion, and skills practice
• Videos that illustrate what happens when signs of suicide are overlooked, and how you can contribute to safe outcomes when these signs are heard and addressed
• Opportunities to further explore organizational applications of the training
• A community resource person will be on hand at the workshop to support your safety and comfort.

People count on LivingWorks training to build safer communities and workplaces. That's why we're committed to offering programs that are tested, proven, and evidence based. With over 50 peer-reviewed studies and government reports validating the impact of our programs, we have the most robust evidence base in the suicide prevention training field. Like all of LivingWorks’ core programs, LivingWorks safeTALK is evidence-based.

Evidence

1. LivingWorks. (2018). safeTALK Literature: An overview of its rationale, concepts, and research foundations. Manuscript in preparation.
2. The rationale and methodology for this approach have been articulated in many settings. See, for example, Rogers, P. (2014). Theory of change: Methodological briefs - Impact evaluation no. 2. Florence, Italy: UNICEF Office of Research.
3. Many variations of Program Logic frameworks are available. For one such comprehensive guide, see: https://www.wkkf.org/resource-directory/resource/2006/02/wk-kellogg-foundation-logic-model-development-guide
4. Rothman, J. (1980). Social R&D: Research and development in human services. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
   1. LivingWorks. (2018). LivingWorks’ perspectives on evaluation and research of suicide intervention training Manuscript in preparation.
   2. LivingWorks. (2018). LivingWorks’ core beliefs: A suicide-safer world. Manuscript in preparation.

Learning Objective 1

Notice and respond to situations where suicide thoughts may be present

Learning Objective 2

Recognize that invitations for help are often overlooked

Learning Objective 3

Move beyond the common tendency to miss, dismiss, and avoid suicide

Keyword Descriptors

Care, Compassion, Help, Save, Support, Safe, Future.

Presentation Year

2025

Start Date

3-5-2025 9:45 AM

Recommended Citation

Smith, Samuel J., "LivingWorks safeTALK Training" (2025). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 77.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2025/2025/77