Annual Staff Training for Suicide Awareness/Prevention

Online training is now available for all Lincoln Public Schools employee groups required to take the annual suicide awareness/prevention training as required by school personnel law approved by the Nebraska State Legislature in 2014.

PLEASE NOTE:  A new software program has been chosen by the Nebraska Department of Education as a training tool that will cover this requirement for all school districts in Nebraska. This is not the same software that has been used in previous years. The new training program is called “Building a Suicide-Safe School Community” and is provided by the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

As in the past, employees will take this training individually online. Those required to take the online training include: nurses, teachers, counselors, school psychologists, administrators, social workers, health technicians, treatment nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, sign language interpreters, service coordinators, SLPs, Bilingual Liaisons, Youth Development Team members, Campus Security, Early Childhood Student Parent Advocates, and paraeducators (including SEMs).

If you are a classified employee, you must complete the training during your normal work hours when classes are not in session. If you are not a classified employee, you can complete the training when you choose.

Three online training modules addressing prevention and postvention are available through this program. Nebraska educators must complete 2 of the 3 modules to satisfy their annual suicide prevention training requirement.

• Module 1 – Includes a brief summary of what to look for and how to respond to a student who may be experiencing thoughts of suicide. (30 minutes) All staff listed above will take this module.

• Module 2 – Includes information about how to integrate a student back to the classroom or school activity environment after a suicide attempt; and what you need to know and do in the classroom or school activity after a death by suicide. (30 minutes)  All teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, sign language interpreters, service coordinators, SLPs, Bilingual Liaisons, Youth Development Team members, Campus Security, Early Childhood Student Parent Advocates, and paraeducators (including SEMs) will take this module.

• Module 3 – Includes information about how to plan for and manage reintegration of students who have attempted suicide; and how to plan for and manage learning environments after a death by suicide. (30 minutes)  All administrators, counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, and health office staff will take this module.

*All groups are expected to have the training completed by end of the day on October 16, 2018.

Any employee (including substitutes) who is not required to take the training can still take it if they choose to do so.

GETTING STARTED

To get started with the training software program, please use this link: http://ppck12training.unl.edu/

You will register for an account at this site. You must have at least a “medium” strength password or you will not be allowed to proceed. Once you’ve registered, you will receive a confirmation email, which will direct you to the program’s page.

District Office staff: When choosing a location the district location is at the end of the list.

Make sure to click on the “Have a voucher?” link and enter the code BSSSC.

Once you’ve registered, you will receive a second email with a link to your personal training dashboard. Please bookmark this page for future reference: https://ppccourses.unl.edu/my-courses/

Click on “Building a Suicide-Safe School Community” to begin your training.

If you receive the following error message - “You must enroll in this course to access course content” - please ignore. It has not had any impact on the ability to complete the course and access certificates. This is a bug that NDE is working on fixing.

As you work through the training it will display a completion percentage. This percentage reflects the percentage completed if you were doing all 3 modules.

COMPLETION

Once you have completed 2 of the 3 modules, remember to save to your computer the certificate of completion after each module. Certificates are available to print or save to your computer after each module is completed (If you have trouble saving, print as a pdf and save to your computer or print a copy and scan it to your email). Please email those certificates as an attachment to the designated person in your building/department.  

If you have issues with login or software:

• Email ppccourses@unl.edu or call 402-472-5678 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This is NOT an LPS software solution, so we are not able to assist with any technical issues.

If you have any questions that are not related to the software or logging in, please contact Russ Uhing at ruhing@lps.org or by calling 402-436-1650.

Thank you for your continued work and dedication in making Lincoln Public Schools a safe and welcoming place for the students of our community.

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