Upcoming Suicide Prevention Trainings for Clinical Staff

The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation is providing upcoming in-person professional development trainings with CEs provided. These trainings are provided free of training fees through SAMHSA Grant #SM086105. 

The Collaborative Assessment & Management of Suicidality (CAMS)

• CAMS is an evidenced-based treatment framework used to assess suicidality and specifically treat suicide risk. CAMS 3-part training provides mental health professionals (and other relevant professionals) with essential knowledge in using the CAMS framework to collaborate with patients in the treatment of their suicidal drivers.
• July 14, 2026 Registration (Cleveland): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988489855687?aff=oddtdtcreator 
• August 7, 2026 Registration (Dayton): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1987334202096?aff=oddtdtcreator
• A CEU application is currently pending for up to 7.0 CEs for counselors, social workers, and psychologists. 
• Cost: Training cost is completely covered through grant funds. There will only be a $40 fee for administrative expenses, including but not limited to, food & beverage.

Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training:

• Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR®) for Health and Behavioral Health Professionals Working in Outpatient Settings (AMSR-Outpatient) formulation model and helps clinicians feel confident navigating challenging conversations about suicide. AMSR offers key strategies for providing compassionate care to people at risk for suicide.
• June 26, 2026 Registration (Columbus): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1986665009523?aff=oddtdtcreator
• July 30, 2026 Registration (Toledo): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1986664621362?aff=oddtdtcreator
• August 28, 2026 Registration (Portsmouth): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1986664818953?aff=oddtdtcreator
• Participants who fully complete this training will also be eligible for 6.5 hours of continuing education credits from APA and NASW. As these are National-level CEs, you will need to check with your respective Ohio licensing board to see if they will accept your CEU certificate awarded after the training.
• Cost: Training cost is completely covered through grant funds. There will only be a $40 fee for administrative expenses, including but not limited to, food & beverage.

Zero Suicide Institute’s Safety Planning Training: 

• OSPF invites you to attend a 4-hour in-person Safety Planning Training for clinical providers. Learn who, what, where, when and how to create a safety plan to support a person at risk of suicide. Build confidence in counseling on access to lethal means and practice your skills in a supportive learning environment. 
• August 14, 2026 Registration (Columbus):https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1985056151385?aff=oddtdtcreator
• 3.5 CEs will be provided to Ohio social workers and counselors 
• Cost: Training cost is completely covered through grant funds. There will only be a $15 fee for administrative expenses, including but not limited to, food & beverage.

If you have any questions, please contact Austin Lucas at [email protected].

Election 2026: Ohio Primaries Set Stage for Statewide Contests

Ohio voters in Tuesday, May 5 made important calls for Democratic and Republican party nominations for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and the Ohio Supreme Court.

While Vivek Ramaswamy easily won his primary against Casey Putsch — setting the Republican up for a primary against Democrat Amy Acton — there are also several down-ticket statewide races that were solidified Tuesday.

Trump’s Drug Strategy Aims To Bolster Addiction Services — Despite Gutting of Government Support

The White House’s newly released strategy for tackling the nation’s drug and addiction crisis calls for a number of ambitious public health approaches that some experts say are laudable but will be hampered by the administration’s own actions.

The sweeping 195-page National Drug Control Strategy, published May 4, advocates for making access to treatment easier than getting drugs, preventing young people from developing addictions in the first place, increasing support for people in recovery, and reducing overdose deaths.

Those broad goals are widely supported by public health researchers, addiction treatment clinicians, and recovery advocates. But accomplishing such goals will be difficult in the face of the administration’s mass layoffs of federal employees, cancellation of research and community grants, attacks on organizations and practices that serve people who use drugs, and cuts to Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people that is the largest payer for addiction and mental health care nationwide.

HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced efforts to curb psychiatric overprescribing at a MAHA Institute summit on mental health and overmedicalization. As the closing speaker, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. laid out a new action plan to promote appropriate psychiatric prescribing and drive deprescribing when clinically indicated.

“Today, we take clear and decisive action to confront our nation’s mental health crisis by addressing the overuse of psychiatric medications—especially among children,” said Secretary Kennedy. “We will support patient autonomy, require informed consent and shared decision-making, and shift the standard of care toward prevention, transparency, and a more holistic approach to mental health.”

HHS agencies are bringing together their collective expertise and aligning to evaluate prescription patterns for psychiatric medications, their benefits and potential harms, and elevate the role of nonmedication treatments and scalable, evidence-based solutions to improve mental health.

Through a multipronged approach including education and outreach, program and policy actions, and research-to-practice efforts, HHS is working to prevent the unnecessary initiation of psychiatric medications and support the tapering and discontinuation for patients not experiencing clinical benefit.

In a Dear Colleague Letter (PDF | 322 KB) published today, HHS encourages providers to prioritize informed consent and shared decision-making, and to regularly review the risks and benefits of psychiatric medications with patients. The letter highlights nonmedication approaches, such as family support, psychotherapy, nutrition, and physical activity when clinically appropriate. Providers can also find information in the letter on billing codes that can be used to support the delivery of evidence-based nonmedication treatments.

In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance for physicians and other practitioners on the importance of deprescribing and related medical care. This guidance clarifies how physicians and other practitioners can be paid for this type of care under Medicare, and also directs clinicians to widely recognized resources for deprescribing, including professional society guidelines, peer-reviewed deprescribing protocols, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instructions for taper schedules.

Upcoming Activities

Education and Outreach

• This month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will issue a report on prescribing trends to inform efforts to reduce inappropriate prescribing, while maintaining access, along with a fact sheet for prescribers and patients.
• Throughout June and July, SAMHSA will host educational webinars for prescribers and other health professionals to increase awareness of the side effects of psychiatric medications, and approaches for deprescribing, as well as evidence-based nonmedication treatments.
• This summer, SAMHSA and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will host a joint webinar for Federally Qualified Health Center providers focused on holistic care, including nonmedication treatments, and deprescribing and tapering of psychiatric medications when clinically indicated.
• In July, HHS will convene a Technical Expert Panel to gather input from health professionals, patients and family, government agencies, and professional societies to inform the development of formal HHS clinical guidance on the appropriate use of psychiatric medications and tapering and discontinuation.

Program and Policy

• HHS agencies will support clinical practice and patient care change through grant activities by supporting child-specific training for frontline prescribers focused on assessment, treatment planning, and referral decision-making, while also increasing access to timely specialist consultation and same-day consultations.
• CMS will work to expand access to evidence-based non-medication care, reduce overreliance on psychiatric medications, and simplify coverage to ensure timely access to evidence-based psychotherapy and family support services for children and adolescents.

Research-to-Practice Initiatives

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and FDA are expediting research into new, innovative treatments for mental health conditions.

This action plan is a unified and comprehensive approach to return to gold-standard science and ensure that children and adults struggling with mental health challenges are equipped with the right information to make informed treatment decisions and get the support they need.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. To locate a treatment facility or provider, visit FindTreatment.gov.