Teaching Suicide Assessment and Intervention Online: A Model of Practice

In counselor education programs, students acquire clinical experience through both practicum and internship; this time frequently marks students' first counseling experiences working with suicide in a clinical context.Often, students in practicum or internship working with clients who may be experiencing suicidal ideations do not feel properly equipped to deal with suicide.This study aimed to develop a practice model for online counselor education programs that increases counseling students' self-efficacy to work with clients who may present with suicidal ideations.Sixty online graduate-level clinical mental health counseling students completed a pre-and posttest self-efficacy assessment.Findings showed that students' self-efficacy increased due to taking the online basic counseling skills class that included teaching activities related to suicide screening, assessment, and intervention.