Feature Article
A Conversation with SPRC Director Lloyd Potter
Two of the biggest tasks that the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) has undertaken since its inception in October 2002 have been the planning and presentation of two major regional con-ferences to move the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP) forward at the state level. To date these conferences have included 23 states. What about the other 27?
“If funds are available, we’ll cover the rest of the country with these conferences,” notes SPRC Director Lloyd Potter, Ph.D., M.P.H., adding that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provided funding for the Denver and New Orleans conferences.
Moving forward with states
In the meantime SPRC staff is busy following up with the 23 states that attended conferences. Technical Assistant Specialists Chris Le, M.A., Ellen Freedman, M.P.H., and Ramya Sundararaman, M.D., M.P.H., are gathering conference evaluations from participants and debriefing facilitators who helped with state breakout groups, notes Potter. And the specialists are also contacting state coordinators to address issues raised at the conference.
As for the remaining 27 states that have not yet participated in SPRC regional conferences, SPRC is engaging these as well.
“We’re being proactive in reaching out to all states, to coordinators in every state,” notes Potter. “We’re not waiting for states to come to us – we’re going to them.”
Expanding the SPRC website
Expanding the utility of the SPRC website is a priority for 2004, says Potter. The number of hits continues to rise as people in prevention – among them state planners, survivors, prevention organizations, clinicians and researchers – continues to visit the site and look to it for more information. See www.sprc.org.
Planned website expansions may include multilingual and e-commerce capabilities. A searchable database of the SPRC library collection has been added recently. Resource Coordinator Paula Arnold, a professional librarian, selects content from various sources, including published works, peer reviewed research, curricula and web-based resources.
Building a registry of evidence-based practices
SPRC staff is also joining with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to develop a registry of evidence-based practices.
“We plan to roll this out this year,” notes Potter, adding that SPRC is working with the National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs (NREPP) and SAMHSA to rate the programs and develop protocol for inclusion in the registry.
“AFSP has set up the process – to review school, community and other primary prevention programs. It rates not the program but the review of the program,” adds Potter, who expects to have the first evidence-based practices ready for dissemination by summer.
Potter is careful to note that just because a program hasn’t received formal evaluation, that doesn’t mean it can’t in time become part of the registry.
“There are a fair number of programs that don’t have evidence. Or some have a lot of anecdotal evidence – they appear quite effective. ... Some are more widely dispersed than others,” says Potter. “Until we reach a decision on how to not harm existing programs, or have the evidence to substantiate them, our first objective is to ‘do no harm.’”
“The first step for us is to be clear on what the (evaluation) criteria are. These need to be consistent with NREPP – and that’s still evolving,” notes Potter. “Once we get clarity, we’ll work with existing programs to assist them in obtaining evaluation.”
In the meantime SPRC plans to move ahead with disseminating evidence-based programs and may establish a category for promising programs – “with the understanding of their promise to undergo evaluation to substantiate their efficacy,” adds Potter.
Developing prevention training modules
SPRC is partnering with the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) to develop training modules for suicide prevention training – and provide them in a format suitable for training purposes. Efforts are focusing on building core suicide prevention curricula on understanding prevention, identifying what works, and creating effective partnerships to planning and marketing a successful awareness event.
“In our contract with AAS, we’re beginning to develop training materials for practitioners,” notes Potter. “To develop new skills, and to change practitioners’ practices to be more consistent with the NSSP (National Strategy for Suicide Prevention).”
Making inroads among practitioners
SPRC Associate Director for Prevention Practice David Litts, O.D., has been named the lead SPRC outreach expert to professional associations. He is dialoguing with leadership of these associations about the potential of SPRC providing continuing education courses for association members and preferred methods of delivery. The potential audiences for these training efforts? Physicians, social workers, and other professionals.
“SPRC will be offering education to professional practitioners so that they can develop competencies in suicide prevention that they don’t necessarily get in other training,” adds Potter.
