Training Announcement

Suicide Prevention Action for Communities

Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) invites community-based organisations (social workers, project leads, field workers, outreach staff, and community organisers) to join Suicide Prevention Action for Communities (SPAC), an online training aimed at building long-term, community- embedded suicide prevention practices. Designed for 6-10 members from each community-based organisation, SPAC empowers teams to move beyond the clinical and individual lens and build a structured suicide prevention approach grounded in lived realities and structural understanding. SPAC enables organisations to form dedicated Suicide Prevention Teams equipped to support their communities through perspective-building, practical tools, collaborative learning, and rights-based support to those at risk.

Objectives:

1. Understanding what suicide and suicidality are, and the connection between the personal and social.
2. Identify/Recognise risk, warning and protective factors and prevention
3. Responding at an individual, organisational, and community level

Eligibility:

This training is open to:

• Community-based organisations from the social sector in India.
• Staff members of community-based organisations: Social workers, project leads, outreach workers, field staff, and community liaisons of NGOs.
• Teams (6–10 members) from each community-based organisation who are committed to building suicide prevention practices with and for their communities.

Medium of Instruction: English

Timings: 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Date: 26th June 2025 (Thursday)

Mode: Online via Zoom platform

Fees: INR 5000 per organisation

Please note:

• The training is not open to individual mental health practitioners in private practice or employees of for-profit organisations
• This training does not focus on crisis intervention or emergency response, but instead supports participants in building structured, long-term approaches to suicide prevention

Registration Link: Please click here to register!

Last date to register: 11th June, 2025 (Wednesday)

Faculty:

Shruti Chakravarty, PhD, (cis woman; pronouns: she, her) has 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, as a mental health practitioner, researcher, trainer, and social worker. Her areas of engagement have been mental health, gender and sexuality, from a rights-based perspective. She has an independent therapeutic practice based in Mumbai, has in-depth experience working with LGBTQIA+ clients in the therapeutic space, and has co-authored Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice (QACP): A Resource Book for Mental Health Practitioners in India. She has completed her PhD on the subject of queer intimacies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Shruti is Chief Advisor at Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI, and also faculty at the Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice course run by MHI. She also leads the training vertical at MHI. Additionally, Shruti is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at KREA University.

Pooja Nair (ciswoman, pronoun: she) has been part of the non-profit sector for over a decade. She has worked as a researcher, documentation consultant and trainer. She is a counsellor with an independent therapeutic practice based in Bombay. She has an MPhil from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has worked in the areas of life-skills training, curriculum development, feminist theory, gender, sexuality, violence and child sexual abuse. She is also visiting faculty at the psychology department at KREA University. Additionally, she is a consultant therapist with Mariwala Health Initiative, and is also faculty at their flagship Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice Course, as well as co-author of the QACP Resource Book for mental health practitioners in India. Pooja also conducts trainings on peer counseling and suicide prevention in the LGBTQI+ community.

For queries or clarifications, please reach out to: training@mariwalahealthinitiative.org

To download the announcement in PDF format, click here