LINC to Life: Evaluation of a safety planning training program with clinicians and mental health staff

Suicide rates continue to rise, and clinicians and mental health staff play a critical role in keeping suicidal clients safe. Safety planning, including means safety, may help to decrease suicide risk. Unfortunately, availability and evaluation of safety planning training for these providers are scarce. The goal of the present study was to evaluate a safety planning training, LINC to LIFE Safety Planning (L2L SP). L2L SP is a 150-minute, face-to-face training program that teaches providers to engage clients in collaborative safety planning and means safety efforts, facilitate diverse client coping strategies, problem-solve, and involve close others, among other skills. These objectives are achieved through interactive content delivery, role-play, and corrective feedback. L2L SP was administered to 95 participants. Key determinants of behavioral change (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, perceived behavioral control [PBC]) were measured at pre, post, and six-month follow-up. Additionally, participants’ behaviors and emotions in working with suicidal clients were measured at pretest and six-month follow-up. Paired sample t-tests, repeated measures MANOVA, and univariate ANOVAs with post-hoc testing using Bonferroni correction were conducted. Results supported significant improvements in knowledge, PBC, and intentions at post-test, and attitudes, PBC, and effective emotional responses at follow-up. Exploratory analyses suggested significant improvements in behaviors among clinicians and mental health staff who saw clients reporting suicidal ideation. The present study provides promising results regarding brief safety planning training. Declines in knowledge and PBC following the training highlight the potential need for booster sessions or more intensive initial training in these areas.