Firearms are the most common method for suicide in America. Given the ready access to firearms that is common in American households, the more widespread use of means safety interventions may be a necessary tool to reverse the accelerating rates of suicide.

The Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) Conversations is a 1-hour training designed for a general audience and requires no prior training in mental health and suicide prevention and focuses on how to talk with at-risk individuals. Its goal is to equip participants with strategies to talk with someone who might be having these thoughts in a collaborative, non-judgmental and supportive manner.

The objectives of the training are:

1. Participants will be able to understand basic facts and misconceptions about suicide, common risk factors and warning signs, and the importance of means safety in keeping at-risk individuals safe.

2. Participants will be able to ask about mood and suicide.

3. Participants will be able to feel comfortable connecting at-risk individuals to both formal and informal sources of support.

4. Participants will be able to to have conversations with at-risk individuals about means safety and making the environment safer for the at-risk individual until their mood state improves.