Skills for Safer Living (SfSL)

Program Description:

Are you or someone you care about between the ages of 12 and 24 and struggling with suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts? Skills for Safer Living is a 4-week psychoeducational group designed to help youth and young adults make sense of what they’re experiencing and learn practical, life-saving skills to stay safe.

This program creates a supportive space to understand suicidal thoughts and behaviours while building resilience and tools for managing crisis moments.

We also offer a separate group for your support person/people (anyone aged 18+ who supports you) to provide them with the knowledge and skills to learn how they can show up for you when you need it. While it’s encouraged that both young people and their support person take part, participation is flexible – each can attend independently of one another.

Whether you’re looking for hope, understanding, connection, or a way forward, Skills for Safer Living is here to help.

Eligibility criteria:

This program may be the right fit for you if:

  • You live in Alberta

    o Please note that we are currently unable to accommodate registrations outside of Alberta.

  • You are aged 12 to 24 years old and:

o Are experiencing suicidal ideation or have previously attempted suicide

o Are not in active or imminent crisis and can stay safe for now

o Are interested in understanding thoughts and feelings that lead to thinking about suicide

o Are interested in building skills to make safer choices

4. Have an individual mental health support person (e.g., therapist, counsellor, mental health nurse, pastor, etc.) throughout the course of program

  • You are 18+ and are a support person for a youth or young person with experiences of suicidal ideation and/or have made a suicide attempt.

Cycle and session format:

Groups run in 4-week cycles, and participants meet weekly for a 90-minute session.

Participants are split into two groups: one group for youth/ young people, and one group for their support.

Depending on registrants, groups for youth/ young people will be categorized based on age and experience of suicidal thoughts or attempts.

Youth/ young people and their support person do not both need to participate in the program but it is highly recommended.

Modality:

In-person and virtual cycles are offered, depending on location. See below.

Facilitation:

Each group is co-facilitated by Skills for Safer Living Facilitators: An Allied Health Professional Facilitator and a Peer Facilitator.

  • Allied Health Professional Facilitator: holds a professional designation in a relevant field (e.g., social work, counselling, psychology, etc.)

  • Peer Facilitator: an individual with lived experience of suicide who has completed training to use their unique experience to support others in similar situations.

Cost:

This program is offered at no cost and made possible thanks to the funding from the Government of Alberta’s Alberta Children’s Services grant.

YOUTH/YOUNG PERSON GROUP

Week 1

  • Creating a climate of safety

  • Safety

  • What is safe/ risky/ unsafe

  • Grounding, distraction and self-soothing strategies

  • Crisis survival strategies

Week 2

  • Networks – sociogram

  • Feelings Wheel

Week 3

  • Early Warning Signs

  • Scale of Intensity

Week 4

  • Safety Plan

  • Triangle: A way of conceptualizing and working through a situation where you can identify your choices and moments of control

CAREGIVER GROUP

Week 1

  • Creating a climate of safety

  • Grounding, distraction and self-soothing strategies

  • What is safe/risky/unsafe

  • What is non-suicidal self-injury (myths and facts)

  • What is suicide (myths and facts)

Week 2

  • Network-sociogram

  • Feelings Wheel

  • Understanding Emotional Literacy

  • How caregivers can help

Week 3

  • Early Warning Signs

  • Scale of Intensity

Week 4

  • Safety Plan

  • Triangle: A way of conceptualizing and working through a situation where you can identify your choices and moments of control.

By the end of the program, youth/ young people will have their own unique Safety Plan, have learned skills and learned about resources to help keep themselves safer.

Facilitators will tailor content and group discussions based on the group’s needs.

Resources:

Skills for Safer Living is not a 24/7 crisis service.

If you are immediate danger, call 911.

If you, or someone you know, is in crisis, help is available:

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 24/7 crisis support to talk with a trained responder who will listen and provide support

  • Call/ text 988

Kids Help Phone: Offers free, 24/7, multilingual and confidential support to young people

  • Call: 1-800-668-6868

  • Text: 686868

Hope for Wellness Line: Available 24/7 to all Indigenous people across Canada

  • Call: 1-855-242-3310

Skills for Safer Living Expression of Interest (EOI) form

If you’re interested in joining a Skills for Safer Living group, please complete an Expression of Interest form.