If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please connect with capable sources of support. One source could be the suicide lifeline for your country or region.

Canada

Talk Suicide: 1-833-456-4566

United States

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Dial 988

Other countries

Find a helpline

Suicide responsiveness is about:

• recognizing that someone may be having thoughts of suicide
• having the courage to name what’s going on
• asking about suicide
• exercising empathy
• recognizing the client’s agency, autonomy, and resourcefulness
• empowering the client to take life-affirming actions.

One doesn’t have to be a counsellor or therapist to be suicide responsive—the training is available to anyone. With the coaching skills we use everyday and the trusting relationships we develop with our clients, coaches are uniquely positioned to be suicide responsive.

As of March 2023, coaches who take LivingWorks suicide prevention training can now receive core coach continuing education credits (CCEs) towards renewal of their International Coaching Federation credential.

In person

• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)**
  Learn and practice the skills to have a suicide intervention coaching conversation. Highly recommended! 5 core and 11 resource development CCEs
• safeTALK
  Suicide alertness for everyone. 2 core and 2 resource development CCEs
  safeTALK for coaches – February 10, 2024 in Vancouver, BC

Find a training near you or contact us to arrange a training for your organization.

Online

• LivingWorks Start
  Suicide alertness introduction or refresher. 1 core and 0.5 resource development CCEs

Become part of a suicide-safer community!

Does someone need to be a therapist or counsellor to be able to skillfully talk with someone about suicide? It’s a good question.

The fact is that if you call a suicide hotline, the person you speak with may not be a counsellor — but they will be someone who’s been trained to be suicide alert and responsive.

If someone were having a heart attack, we couldn’t afford to wait for and rely only on a medical professional to resuscitate them. We hope that many people in our communities are able to perform CPR. Similarly, we can’t rely only on therapists and mental health professionals to be able to ask about suicide. 

When someone is thinking about suicide, it’s not an appropriate time to dig into historical trauma, or do a clinical assessment. The focus needs to be on keeping the person safe for now.

A person doesn’t have to have any particular profession or pre-requisites to become suicide responsive. In fact, the lack of stigma associated with coaching may make it more likely that some people would confide in their coach rather than see a therapist. The types of trusting one-on-one relationships we as coaches develop with our clients makes it likely they could confide in us – directly or indirectly.

We need to notice the signs that someone is telling us, have the clarity and courage to ask, be compassionate and calm enough to listen, and support them in keeping safe with a course of action. Our coaching competencies provide a solid foundation for us to be suicide alert and responsive.

Rather than blurring the line between counselling and coaching, suicide responsiveness provides coaches with the knowledge and skills to navigate the grey area in between, and to connect clients with the resources they need.

Anyone can become suicide responsive. Anyone can have a conversation that could save a life. As coaches, we are uniquely positioned to do this.

Some may argue that becoming suicide responsive could introduce liability issues. In considering this argument, we look to parallels in the area of physical health. If we go to a gym, we don’t expect the coaches and trainers there to be medical professionals—but we do expect them to know CPR and first aid.

From this perspective, not equipping coaches with suicide responsiveness training places us at risk for “avoiding bad” rather than “doing good”, a misalignment with the ICF Code of Ethics Section IV: Responsibility to Society. Intentionally not using our skills to their fullest potential doesn’t absolve us.

Suicide-responsive coaches are not mental health professionals, any more than sports coaches and trainers are medical professionals. By learning to be suicide responsive, we make no claim to be able to diagnose or treat mental health issues. What we do do by learning to be suicide responsive is responsibly exercise our core coaching competencies and increase confidence in our ability to respond effectively in exceptional situations.

Our mission is to have suicide responsiveness become a standard element of coach training and certification. Wherever you are in the coaching profession, we welcome your support in achieving this goal.

Please consider:

• taking suicide responsiveness training
• applying to your credentialing body to receive core CCEs for this training
• inviting us to present to your local ICF chapter, coach training organization, or other coaching groups in which you are a member

If you are a coach mentor, trainer, educator, please consider recommending suicide responsiveness training to your mentees, students, and colleagues.

If you are a coach trainer or educator, contact us to discuss the possibility of suicide responsiveness training being incorporated into your curriculum.

If you are a member of a credentialing body, contact us to discuss how suicide responsiveness training could be incorporated into your credentialing program:

• as a requirement for certain levels of credentialing
• as coach continuing education

Whatever your role in the coaching profession, we invite you to keep in touch.

Whether you’re planning a global conference or a local chapter meeting, we would be excited to present to your group. You can expect a engaging, dynamic, and life-giving conversation. Please contact us to arrange a presentation.

We would love to keep you updated on presentations, training, and advances in suicide responsiveness for coaching. We promise to never sell or share your contact information with a third party for any other purpose. Please subscribe below to keep in touch.