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Paper Presentation

Clinical Practice

Session: Educating for Impact: Building a Competent and Equitable Behavioral Health Workforce

Suicide Prevention as a Social Work Competency: Addressing Workforce Gaps Through Education

Social workers play a key role in suicide prevention, yet many lack formal training. This presentation examines 2024 data from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) workforce survey on training gaps and introduces newly published SPRC resources to help educators integrate suicide prevention competencies into social work curriculum.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
  1. Participants will analyze workforce training gaps in suicide prevention among social workers using data from the 2024 SPRC Workforce Survey.
  2. Participants will evaluate the application of SPRC resources—including the Liability Issue Brief, Clinical Scripts Guide, and Resource Guide—in social work education and professional training.
  3. Participants will develop strategies for integrating suicide-specific competencies into social work curricula, field education, and continuing education programs.