2026 Beyond the Basics in Suicide Prevention Conference

Hosted by NAMI Maine and the Maine CDC, the annual Beyond the Basics in Suicide Prevention Conference is an event dedicated to bringing Maine professionals and community members together to foster connection while learning about best practices and resources in suicide prevention and management efforts as well as support after a loss (also known as postvention).

Scheduled for Monday, April 13th, this year's theme centers upon Compassionate Communities: Promoting Action for Suicide Prevention and features Keynote Speaker, Steven J. Karaiskos, PhD, who will deliver a powerful talk exploring how suicide prevention is strengthened when communities invest in connection across the full arc of human experience. Drawing from lived experience, research, and decades of work, Steven will invite the audience to reimagine community not as the backdrop for prevention, but as the intervention itself.

Alongside the Keynote Session and opportunities to join breakout sessions with prominent Maine professionals, this year's conference also features a thought-provoking panel session that will ponder the question, What Does It Take to Build Community?

We hope to see you there on Monday, April 13th in Auburn, Maine for a thoughtful day of learning about suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.

For questions not addressed on this page, you may reach out to [email protected] or call (800) 464-5767 ext. 2318.

Info: In this Keynote, Steven examines how belonging, mattering, and trust shape our capacity to support one another through stress, grief, disruption, and recovery through personal stories from early childhood classrooms, international school communities, and his current work at The Kita Center. He explores how listening, cultural humility, and care-centered practices help communities remain connected when things are hardest and how postvention, when done with intention, becomes one of our most powerful forms of prevention.

Grounded in the belief that we heal through relationships, this keynote reframes suicide prevention as shared human work: creating communities where people experience belonging, are treated with dignity, and know they matter. Across the full arc of struggle and recovery, it is these relational spaces, where people are seen, held, and supported, that allow individuals and communities not just to survive, but to flourish.

Info: Research tells us that hope for a positive future is critical to mental wellbeing; yet hope can be hard to find in the midst of the significant challenges facing our work, our communities, and our planet. When we reach out for support, all too often we are told to “practice better self-care” or “focus on the positive.” Instead, this workshop is an opportunity to explore the framework of critical hope – the idea that hope can be radical, and also that hope can co-exist with anger and grief in messy, sometimes uncomfortable ways. Explore how we can cultivate an active practice of critical hope to strengthen us personally and collectively.

Info: This session explores how peer-based support strengthens compassionate community responses to crisis and suicide. Grounded in the Intentional Peer Support (IPS) model used in Maine, we will examine how peer values—mutuality, shared power, curiosity, and connection—offer an effective, person-centered, relational approach to support.

Participants will learn how peer supporters view crisis not as risk to manage, but as human experience to be met with relationship, dignity, and possibility. The session will highlight how Maine’s crisis system reform has integrated peer roles across the crisis continuum and what this means for accessibility, engagement, and community-level suicide prevention.

This presentation invites participants to consider how communities can move beyond risk mitigation toward relational safety—where people in crisis are met with connection and support.

Info: Postvention, the interventions and support provided after a death by suicide, is more than simply informing others of a death, managing a scene, or giving out cards for the nearest counseling center. It is an immediate, organized mobilization of support to buoy those who are treading the waters of shock and grief. A well-organized, agile, and pre-planned approach to postvention in organizations is critical to the health and well-being of suicide loss survivors, especially those within vulnerable populations.

In this session, we will discuss the impact of postvention on immediate and long-term mental health for individuals and organizations. We will also discuss the impact of postvention on immediate and long-term mental health for individuals and organizations, and we will outline the essential tools for your organization’s postvention lifeboat. We’ll discuss a real-life example of one school district’s experiences with postvention and lessons learned that can help support you.

Info: Mattering is a key protective factor that prevents a wide range of negative health outcomes, creates stronger social bonds, decreases suicidal ideation, and builds resilience in youth of all ages. And yet 47% of Maine high school students do not feel that they matter (MIYHS 2025).

In this presentation, Maine Youth Thriving will share the key ingredients of mattering, explain how mattering is different and more lasting than belonging, and detail strategies that Maine youth report make them feel seen, heard, valued, and able to add value to their communities. Participants will receive materials that help communities create positive social norms around mattering as well as the research on how mattering can improve the wellbeing of everyone. Led by staff from Maine Youth Thriving, this presentation will also create interactive opportunities for fleshing out culturally-responsive and community-specific ways to achieve mattering.

Info: Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) throughout the State of Maine are doing incredible work every day to provide care to Mainers who have been historically underserved and may face challenges accessing health and behavioral healthcare. Whether uninsured, underinsured, new to Maine, living in rural areas, low-income, or working on Maine’s farms, these agencies are dedicated to serving and providing supports to whole communities. Join this session to hear from these healthcare partners on their perspectives working with a variety of Mainers to address their unique needs, how they respond to the challenges faced by underserved communities, and how you can supplement this work.

Info: This interactive workshop extends the keynote by moving from shared framing into applied practice. Grounded in the postvention model of The Kita Center, it explores how communities can respond after a suicide loss in ways that honor grief, strengthen connection, and reduce future risk, recognizing that postvention is a powerful form of prevention.
Participants will examine how compassionate community-building must be responsive to the individualized and contextual needs of different populations impacted by suicide loss, including those who may experience stigma, isolation, or barriers to support.
Participants will explore how to move beyond one-size-fits-all responses toward care that is relational, flexible, and grounded in listening, with a focus on belonging, mattering, dignity, and cultural humility. The session emphasizes community as the intervention—centering human connection, shared responsibility, and care that meets people where they are in their grief and recovery.

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Host or Publisher NAMI Maine