Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning into Youth Suicide Prevention Efforts in Schools: The development of a comprehensive toolkit for Island Health’s School Health Promotion Specialists

Suicide is the leading cause of non-accidental deaths in children in BC. The number of youth suicide attempts and hospitalization rates associated with self-inflicted injury rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing calls for public health to consider more universal prevention approaches that promote strength and protect against suicide before a crisis emerges. Upstream, universal prevention strategies help all youth learn about and build skills to identify and manage emotions, especially when feelings of distress become too intense. Fostering skills related to emotional regulation, healthy relationships, and responsible decision-making are core competencies of social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL holds promise in being an integral part of comprehensive youth suicide prevention, but more research is needed to determine how SEL can be applied to complement existing targeted approaches and general suicide awareness campaigns. Our proposed work aims to review best practices of SEL promotion in the context of suicide prevention in schools with the goal of developing a toolkit and training workshop for Island Health’s newly appointed team of School Health Promotion Specialists to support their suicide prevention efforts in schools