"Help, Hope, Heal: Finding Light Through the Darkness" *
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Scott Poland

Dr. Scott Poland is a Professor at the College of Psychology and the Co-Director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Dr. Poland is a licensed psychologist and an internationally recognized expert on school safety, youth suicide, self-injury, bullying, school crisis prevention/intervention, threat assessment, and parenting in challenging times. He has authored or co-authored five books and many chapters and articles on these subjects and has served as a legal expert in a number of lawsuits. He also recently co-authored the Suicide Safer Schools Plan for the state of Texas and the Crisis Action School Toolkit-Suicide for the state of Montana.

Dr. Poland will discuss how to develop a comprehensive best practices model for youth suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention in the schools that includes screenings and comprehensive assessment. He will also discuss the importance of collaboration with mental health service providers for re-entry planning and postvention practices. Legal cases in which schools were sued following a youth suicide will be presented.

*This event was originally scheduled for March 27, 2020.