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Join Dr. Alex Karydi for a workshop on suicide postvention best practices.  Topics covered include:

  • Suicide Prevention Resource Center / Zero Suicide background and overview

  • Suicide prevention review and best practices

  • Suicide postvention needs assessment 

  • Decreasing risk for contagion/clusters

  • Helping loss survivors

Download the handout to the session here.

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Dr. Alex Karydi, LMFT, LAC, CSAC, is currently serving as the Director of State and Community Initiatives at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the only federally supported resource center devoted to advancing the implementation of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Sexology and a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked in various systems, including school systems, the justice system, social services, and behavioral health, providing care as a therapist, grant writer, and program manager. In 2015, she was appointed as the Program Director for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health – Office of Suicide Prevention, where she was responsible for establishing the first state office for suicide prevention and developing the state school suicide prevention program. 

She has also worked as a Program Director for Project 2025 at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a nationwide initiative to reduce the U.S.'s annual rate of suicide by 20 percent by 2025, and at Callen-Lorde Community Center, a global leader in LGBTQ healthcare in New York. Alex's clinical interests include lesbian, bisexual, and queer women’s health; transgender youth; HIV care, addiction treatment, and suicide prevention. In addition, they are a proud parent with the wife of their Queer Deaf child and a bunch of fur babies.

All Fireside Chats are hosted by Robyn Hussa Farrell, MFA, E-RYT

Fireside Chats fulfill training requirements for SC Foster Parent Association certification.  To qualify, foster parents should attend the live or recorded session, then email Robyn Hussa Farrell at rfarrell@sharpenminds.com to obtain a printable certificate. 

 

Robyn Hussa Farrell is co-founder and CEO of Sharpen, and has spent the past 15 years collaborating with state agencies, educational systems, public health and psychology researchers to build and deliver evidence-based programs to K-12 schools and communities.  Robyn is responsible for building collaborative partnerships and developing programs that deliver powerful prevention content into communities across the U.S. 

 

As part of her work in population health and prevention, Robyn built mindfulness, stress reduction and yoga-based programs for patients struggling with a variety of mental illnesses. Her work has been published in peer reviewed medical journals and in other publications. Robyn’s experience working in treatment settings and with researchers in schools led her to scale her community-based programs by adapting them into video-based modules and a series of documentaries on mental health and educational initiatives. Many of Robyn’s programs have been implemented through the award-winning non-profit, MentalFitness, which Hussa founded in 2006 to deliver evidence-based content and resources to communities.

 

A leader in the mental health and wellness provider community, Robyn is certified in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through the University of Massachusetts Medical School model, as well as a certified trainer for NAMI NH CONNECT Suicide Postvention program. Hussa has proudly served as Spartanburg county youth suicide prevention coordinator for the Behavioral Health Task Force for United Way of the Piedmont, is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Johnson College of Business and has served as a mentor for the StartME Spartanburg entrepreneurship program. Robyn served as the Resilient Schools mindfulness trainer in Spartanburg, Cherokee, Richland and Lexington County Resilient Schools initiatives, is a Founding Member of the Eating Disorder Recovery on Campus in Boston, an advisory committee member for Way to Wellville/Rethink Health Community Engagement and Listening Campaign, and has been a Keynote and Invited Presenter in over 50 medical and educational conferences.

 

About Sharpen

Sharpen works with national researchers and practitioners to deliver evidence-based mental health programs that improve behavioral health outcomes for communities. Sharpen Fireside Chats are a free resource for communities and aspire to bring the latest best practices to more individuals, communities and families.

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