Fortifying Gatekeeper Skills in Evidence-Based Suicide Prevention

Gatekeepers are a critical resource for identifying youths-in-crisis within any community or school. Since suicide is relatively infrequent, not using these skills routinely may leave gatekeepers less prepared to act swiftly and effectively when they encounter someone who is in crisis.  This demonstration type session will help correct misunderstandings about suicide while providing attendees with the appropriate and standardized language for discussing suicide. Through demonstration, role play, didactic and discussion attendees will learn how to use direct language to identify potential children and adolescents who are in crisis and help these youths access appropriate services.

Presented by Kent Corso, PsyD, BCBA-D

Dr. Kent A. Corso is a licensed clinical psychologist and board
certified behavior analyst. His experience in military and veteran
suicide prevention began when he was serving on active duty for in the U.S. Air Force. For over a decade, Dr. Corso has researched,
developed and trained others to implement evidence-based methods of suicide prevention across the Department of Defense and within the private sector. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and delivered dozens of talks on military suicide. His technical competence in suicide prevention combined with his expertise in using applied behavior analysis to solve problems makes him the first and leading expert in America to employ these scientific methods and technologies to evaluate suicide at the systems-level. Dr. Corso’s passion for supporting the Air Force’s mission, and his relentless approach to bending the suicide curve resulted in a pilot program evaluation for the ANG’s Suicide Prevention Program Office. The results of this project reveal new insights into the system-level factors driving suicide, particularly in the ANG. Integral to the success of the ANG project was Xcelerate Innovations, an agile technology company he co-founded with two other veterans. Xcelerate Innovations has developed applied behavioral analysis software components, including the only electronic standard celeration chart application. This application uses nonlinear methods for analyzing suicide via the single case design and remains the only existing system with such capabilities.

2 CE hour workshop

Wednesday, November 14 - 10AM to 12AM