Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) Training

December 8, 2026, 8:30am - 12:30pm CST
Virtual via Zoom
Fee: $15 full members; $60 partial members & non-members
Continuing Education Hours: 4.0

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Course Description

Suicide claims the lives of almost 50,000 Americans per year, with suicide rates climbing steadily over the past 25 years. Existing prevention programs have focused primarily on improving knowledge and attitudes about suicide and improving treatment access for at-risk individuals (Brent & Brown, 2015). Those efforts, while important, may be relatively ineffective in preventing deaths resulting from suicidal risk that develops very rapidly. Additionally, most existing suicide prevention programs do not consider the use of highly lethal methods such as firearms as a factor in the fatality of suicide attempts. Firearms account for 55% of suicides in the United States, and evidence suggests that ready access firearms is associated with higher rates of suicide fatalities. Given the ready access that is common in American homes, the more widespread use of means safety interventions may be a necessary tool to reverse the accelerating rates of suicide.

In response to these concerns, the Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) clinical workshop is a 4.0-hour training that aims to those in mental health, medical, and human service professions to counsel individuals and their families to temporarily reduce access to firearms and dangerous medications during times of heightened suicide risk. CALM clinical workshops feature four components. In part one, participants will be introduced to the means safety prevention framework, providing a rationale based on a large body of empirical evidence and demonstrating how it strengthens broader suicide prevention strategies. Participants will also explore how characteristics of suicidal processes often can be disrupted by reducing immediate access to lethal means. In part two, participants will learn how to incorporate means safety steps into existing risk assessment and crisis response protocols as well as the range of options for increasing means safety. Additionally, participants will learn how to utilize mean safety approaches flexibly and creatively to reduce access to means other than firearms and medications that are related to a suicide plan. Part three focuses on effective communication around means safety. Participants will practice utilizing motivational interviewing techniques to have collaborative discussions around means safety planning, with an emphasis on temporariness and increasing the safety of the at-risk individual. Participants will also learn to employ culturally sensitive and technically accurate language around discussions of firearms. Finally, part four gives participants the opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills discussed in the first three parts in a series of role plays based on actual cases seen in clinical settings.

• Participants will be able to list reasons why including means reduction strategies is a critical component of responding to suicide risk.
• Participants will be able to competently discuss strategies for increasing means safety with individuals at risk of suicide and their families.
• Participants will be able to incorporate means reduction strategies into existing evidence-based safety planning interventions.

Liz Bartz, MS

Liz has diverse experience, working in Human Services for more than a decade and over seven years of experience teaching higher education. She began her career in the human services filed as the Children's Advocate at a domestic abuse and sexual assault support center. Liz served as a Program Manager and Therapist at a residential treatment facility. She moved onto a career in case management for children receiving services through the autism waiver program and the state children's waiver. Liz completed functional screening, as well as providing support and overview of anyone receiving state funded services. Liz's experience in the Wisconsin county system evolved into the Outreach Prevention Specialist within Crisis Intervention Services. This position included but was not limited to providing crisis intervention services, completing initial assessments, functional screens and referrals to mental health and substance abuse treatment, case management and waiver programs, certifying and renewing adult family homes, reviewing settlement agreements and commitments and serving on the safety committee organizing and providing training opportunities within the agency and the community. Liz also began teaching general studies psychology courses. In fall of 2017, Liz began working with UW-Green Bay's Behavioral Health Training Partnership (BHTP) training the Crisis Core orientation trainings as well as facilitating special skills and topics trainings. In June of 2018, Liz became a full-time trainer and development specialist with BHTP and has trained hundreds of individuals in various settings.

Liz holds a Master of Science degree in Community Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis on children with emotional and behavioral disturbances and their families, as well as a substance use specialty to compliment the counseling major. She is a Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) trainer.