In Person Seminar – SOS for School Staff: Gatekeeper Training – Oct. 28, 2025

PDPs and CEUs are not being offered for this event.

October 28, 2025 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Registration: 8:30 – 9:00 am
Seminar: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Attend In Person

MPTC Holyoke Police Academy
600 Kelly Way
Holyoke, MA 01040

Speaker

Larry Berkowitz, Ed.D., Co-Founder and Director, Riverside Trauma Center

Description

This highly interactive, multi-modal training is designed to increase knowledge, build confidence, and empower the trusted adults in your school community to recognize and respond to the warning signs of suicide and crisis issues in youth.

Through video examples of real-world discussions and stories from teens, as well as clinician-guided instruction, your team will learn:

About the Speaker

Larry Berkowitz, Ed.D., (he/him) is Co-Founder and directed Riverside Trauma Center for 19 years, where he currently is a Senior Clinical Consultant. He has provided direct therapeutic services for over 30 years and managed mental health services for over 25 years. Clinical areas of expertise include work with children, adolescents, adults, and families who are acute trauma survivors and/or suicide survivors. He coordinates and provides disaster response services and post-suicide intervention for individuals, schools, workplaces, and communities, and conducts trainings on suicide prevention. Dr. Berkowitz holds a doctoral degree in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University and is a licensed Psychologist in Massachusetts. He is on the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, held an appointment as a Teaching Associate in Psychology, Part Time, at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and is an Adjunct Instructor at William James College in Newton, Mass. where he teaches a course on understanding suicide to students in a graduate clinical psychology program.

Dr. Berkowitz was a member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s task force on the needs of those bereaved by suicide, supporting the 2012 Surgeon General’s National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. He is a co-author of the Task Force’s report, “Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines, report of Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force,” (2015). Related to crisis response, he helped design and lead three FEMA-funded crisis counseling programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (post- 9/11; flooding in eastern Massachusetts; tornado recovery in western Massachusetts, Covid-19 pandemic response).

  Membership Information

Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.

PDPs and CEUs

MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.

Event Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.

For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.