It starts with One Conversation
It starts with
One Conversation
When someone is struggling, they almost always say something first. It just rarely sounds the way we expect. This workshop gives people the communication skills to stay in the conversations most of us are taught to avoid.
It starts with One Conversation
Built for whole teams, not just individuals. The skills that help someone support a colleague in crisis are the same ones that build trust, surface problems sooner, and make tough conversations easier to have.
This 90-minute session will help your team:
- Build trust quickly
- Ask better questions
- Spot unspoken concerns
- Choose curiosity over assumptions
- Stay calm under pressure
- Respond thoughtfully instead of reacting
These aren't crisis skills. They're human communication skills that happen to be indispensable in a crisis.
Who this is for.
Built for whole teams, not just individuals. Especially valuable for managers, team leads, HR professionals, client-facing roles, and any team looking to strengthen communication and trust.
The same skills, different conversations.
Our crisis hotline isn’t staffed by clinicians. It’s staffed by trained community volunteers who answer tens of thousands of calls each year. The same skills that let you sit with a stranger on their worst night are the ones that make a team stronger on an ordinary one. This workshop brings those skills to your team.
Why it matters here.
Long hours. Performance pressure. A culture where asking for help can feel like a liability. A professional identity that’s hard to separate from the work itself. None of that makes anyone fragile. But it does mean that when someone is struggling, the cost of silence can be higher.
At Samaritans, we say suicide prevention starts with me. Not because everyone needs to become a mental health expert, but because every one of us can notice, ask, and listen. Sometimes all it takes is one person willing to say, “I’ve noticed you don’t seem like yourself. How are you doing…really?”
Most organizations already have resources. The challenge isn’t making support available. It’s helping people feel able to actually use it.
More people talking openly isn’t a soft outcome. It’s the bridge between needing help and reaching for it.
What we cover.
This 90-minute, discussion-driven session is organized around three topics:
What we cover.
This 90-minute, discussion-driven session is organized around three topics:
Understanding Risk.
Suicide is an outcome, not a cause. Rather than memorizing warning
signs and risk factors, participants learn to recognize what it looks like when someone’s
ability to cope is becoming overwhelmed. Grounded in self-reflection and real-world
examples, they learn how distress shows up in themselves and others.
Turning Concern into Conversation.
Recognizing someone is struggling is only the first step. Participants learn how to start supportive conversations, ask directly about suicide when appropriate, respond without panic or judgment, and understand the next steps.
Building Skills.
Participants practice active listening, open questions, sitting with silence, resisting the urge to fix, solve, or compare, leading with curiosity instead of assumptions, and staying present in discomfort.
40+ Years of Suicide Prevention Leadership
•
1.5M+ Calls Answered
•
50,000+ People Trained
40+ Years of Suicide Prevention Leadership
1.5M+ Calls Answered
50,000+ People Trained
Bring One Conversation to your team.
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The Samaritans of New York, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to the fullest extent of the law. EIN 13-3164464