School-Based Suicide Risk Assessment as a Process: Understanding Drivers to Suicide in Adolescents
Date: September 10, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm UTC
About this webinar
Responding to adolescent mental health concerns in schools has become increasingly complex. “Assessment and management of suicide risk are among the most daunting tasks faced by mental health clinicians who work with children and adolescents” (Pettit et al., 2018, p. 460), yet assessing suicidal thoughts and behaviors remains integral to prevention (American Psychiatric Association, 2003). Although assessment informs intervention, “there is no perfect, one-size-fits-all approach to suicide risk assessment and management” (Pettit et al., 2018, p. 16). School-based mental health professionals are well-positioned to assess suicide risk (Law et al., 2015), and increasingly, risk assessment is best conceptualized as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event.
Recent data indicate that 22% of high school students seriously considered suicide and 10% attempted it in the past year (CDC, 2023), suggesting that school mental health professionals may be conducting risk assessments for a substantial portion of the student population. Rates are higher among females, LGBTQ+ youth, and Black and Hispanic adolescents, while 42% of students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (CDC, 2023), further underscoring the scope of need.
This session will focus on suicide assessment as a process shared by school mental health professionals within multidisciplinary teams. Evidence-based tools will be presented to complement clinical interviewing, as structured assessments improve identification of suicide risk beyond interviews alone (Posner, 2011). These tools will be integrated within a broader contextual framework to support identification of drivers of suicidal behavior and inform effective prevention efforts across levels of risk.
Speaker
Dr. Marina Niznik, a licensed psychologist in California, is the President of Inlight Psychological Services PC, the private practice she founded specializing with adolescents. She earned her doctoral degree in School Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Upon completing her APA-accredited internship in a large school district (Houston), she remained there as a school psychologist for over 15 years. She is an Advisory Board member for the JED Foundation Set-To-Go High School initiative. She has presented on self-injury and suicide prevention, internationally, nationally, and locally. In collaboration with Dr. Scott Poland she has co-authored articles on self-injury and suicide prevention. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area.