2026 School Safety Training Forum

As the digital landscape evolves, so must our framework for youth suicide prevention. This session provides a research-based foundation grounded within an Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) for comprehensive school safety and well-being. Specifically, participants will be guided through a full continuum of suicide prevention: prevention, intervention, risk assessment, and postvention as it exists within a digital world. Moving beyond traditional risk screening and assessment interviews, this session will demonstrate how multi-disciplinary school teams can identify and interpret the "digital footprint" of a student at risk. This proactive approach equips educators and mental health professionals with key considerations for utilizing multi-source data to identify mental health needs and evaluate risk in the digital sphere. Participants will gain practical strategies and learn of tools to intervene before, during, and after life-threatening behaviors occur and foster a culture of safety, connectedness, and hope in a digital world.