About SafeSide Prevention

Suicide Prevention in Systems

SafeSide Prevention Founder and University of Rochester Professor Tony Pisani provides an overview of Suicide Prevention in Systems (Pisani, Moutier, & Stahl, 2021; Pisani & Boudreaux, 2023), how this relates to Zero Suicide, and the programs SafeSide offers to advance this approach.
New pic

SafeSide Provides...

SafeSide Prevention strengthens organisations to prevent suicide. Our flexible programs can be tailored to your organisation's goals and needs. Alongside our programs, we offer:

  • Leadership consultation
  • Workforce education
  • Policy and practice review and recommendations
  • A practical framework for safety and prevention
  • Tools, templates, and data to support your efforts.
Safeside team

SafeSide Serves...

SafeSide serves organisations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, including:

  • Australian Department of Defence: As part of the commitment to continuous improvement, Defence has partnered with SafeSide Prevention to optimise the Suicide Prevention Program. The Project informs culture, policies and education, promoting the shift from risk prediction and stratification to risk assessment and formulation focusing on person-centred prevention and safety planning.
  • The Western Australian Mental Health Commission: The Mental Health Commission of Western Australia engaged SafeSide Prevention to explore how its programs could complement the suicide prevention work already underway in the state.
  • Te Whatu Ora (New Zealand Health) Districts, including Hawke’s Bay, Counties Manukau and Health Southern, as well as Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) such as WellSouth, use the SafeSide Framework.

Core Values

More than Safety

Safety is essential, but not the final goal. We'll help you meet patient safety goals and regulations, but we aim higher: toward recovery, health, and happiness.

Healthy Team

We prioritize the health, prosperity, and connectedness of our team, so our partnership with you will be warm, productive, and uplifting.

Better Together: Clinical and Lived Experience

SafeSide educational programs are co-led by a suicide prevention expert and instructors with diverse lived experience.

Measure Your Impact

SafeSide training grew out of programs and studies conducted by Dr. Tony Pisani at the University of Rochester. Research on the approach is ongoing. We suggest metrics and provide data to assist our subscribers in measuring their impact and progress.

Meliora

Meliora (“always better!”) is a core value of SafeSide Prevention. We offer subscriptions, ongoing contact, and continually updated materials to keep up with advances in the field and to respond to feedback and requests from our subscriber community.

Meet the SafeSide Faculty

Pedro Centeno
EDUCATIONAL MEDIA & DATA

Pedro Centeno, PhD

Clinical psychology + film/video production + massive creativity makes Pedro the perfect fit for producing powerful media to drive SafeSide programs and communications.

Mel Clark
PROGRAM COORDINATOR/FAMILY ADVOCATE (SAFESIDE AUSTRALIA)

Mel Clark

Mel brings a professional balance of compassion, empathy, and determination to her work, with a goal to provide and find “the hope” for others. A long-time carer for her brother, a survivor of Adverse Childhood Experiences and someone who has transitioned beyond vicarious trauma in the workplace, Mel is committed to using her lived and living experiences to help shine a light on all things “family” and the importance of wellbeing, justice, healing and recovery.

Read more about Mel's story. Download a copy of her Caring Contact Cards here.

Anna Safe Side headshot
Scientific Advisor

Anna Defayette, PhD

Mentored by Tony at the University of Rochester, Anna is a suicide prevention researcher and clinical psychologist. Her passion for the SafeSide Framework was sparked while participating in a SafeSide workshop, finding that the key principles are deeply aligned with her own clinical approach. Anna joined SafeSide because she is passionate about making research findings more accessible to others and using data to improve everyday clinical practice.

Sarah Donovan
VICE PRESIDENT OF IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT

Sarah Donovan, PsyD

Sarah led a successful rollout of SafeSide as Director of Evidence-Based Practice in a large youth services organization. She liked it so much, she joined our team! Now Sarah wakes up each day thinking of new ways to leverage implementation science to support the transfer of learning to practice and outcomes.

Anna Kawennison Fetter headshot
Consulting Faculty

Anna Kawennison Fetter

Anna Kawennison Fetter, is an enrolled member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A counseling psychologist by training, Dr Fetter’s work focuses on promoting mental health equity through a strength-based, structural, and culturally congruent lens.

Dan Mobbs
DIRECTOR OF WORKFORCE EDUCATION & INNOVATION

Dan Mobbs

Before coming to SafeSide, Dan spent two decades working as a social worker and clinical educator across health, counselling and suicide prevention services. Dan is passionate about improving care for people with suicide concerns. He now channels this passion into ensuring that SafeSide’s programs fit the settings, populations and cultures they serve.

Dan Murrie Ph D
VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Dan Murrie, PhD

A University of Virginia forensic psychologist who lends his violence prevention expertise to our programs. Dan and Tony are research and thinking partners for SafeSide’s risk formulation model.

Tony Pisani Ph D
CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR

Tony Pisani, PhD

Primary care psychologist, family therapist, and suicide prevention researcher at the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide. Tony spent 10 years developing and road-testing the SafeSide framework and educational methods.

Read more about Tony's story.

Dean S. Seneca
Consulting Faculty

Dean S. Seneca

Dean S. Seneca, the CEO of Seneca Scientific Solutions+, a Public Health and Urban and Regional Planning LLC. In this position, he provides capacity-building assistance for Tribal Nations, States, Regions, Cities, and Territories in economic and community development that embraces the concepts of “healthy places for healthy people".

Peter Wyman
Scientific Advisor

Peter Wyman

Peter Wyman is Co-Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester. He leads the Network Health Prevention Science Program, where his work intersects behavioural science, developmental epidemiology, and social network methods. Dr. Wyman and his team developed the Connect Program suite of interventions.

Kristina Mossgraber
LIVED EXPERIENCE FACULTY & INSTRUCTOR

Kristina Zurich

A gifted teacher dedicated to helping people see the many reasons they have for living. She keeps the team thinking about what patients experience in the health and behavioral health care system.

Read more about Kristina's story.

Meet the SafeSide Team

IMG 1065
Executive Assistant

Essence Bentia

Essence Bentia (Ben) has built a career rooted in support and creativity, with experience spanning customer service, digital content creation, and social media management. Fully transitioning to executive assistance, Ben discovered a role that aligned with a talent for organisation and a drive to make a meaningful impact. Now, as Executive Assistant to SafeSide Prevention’s Founder and COO, Ben brings a proactive and versatile approach, enabling SafeSide’s leadership to focus on their mission of advancing global suicide prevention.

Tiyana Gostelow
PROGRAM AND IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER

Tiyana Gostelow

Tiyana joins the SafeSide Prevention Team as our Program and Implementation Manager for the Australasian region. She brings with her more than 25 years of experience in clinical and senior leadership positions in mental health and suicide prevention.

Annie Lewis
CONTENT AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Annie Lewis

With a background in journalism for regional and metro news outlets, Annie is bringing her skills in creating meaningful content to the communications and marketing team. Annie combines her passion for suicide prevention, and amplifying the voices of those with lived experience with her creativity and can-do attitude to support SafeSide in communicating and connecting with it's growing subscriber base.

Hannah Mang
SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCER AND EDITOR

Hannah Mang

As SafeSide’s Senior Video Producer and Editor, Hannah creates impactful video content and engaging learning modules for our partners across the world. She brings previous deep and varied experience in global commercial and film production.

Paul Scade Ph D
WRITER & EDITOR

Paul Scade, PhD

Paul has spent 20 years in the writing trade, first as an academic historian and then as a professional writer and editor. Paul is committed to the SafeSide mission and works across the organization to communicate SafeSide’s values, work, and research.

Tim Sheehan
DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL SERVICES & SUPPORT

Tim Sheehan

Tim’s skills in technical services have been honed during a career spanning more than 30 years in tech. A leader who knows systems inside and out, Tim makes the complex look easy.

Jamie Thompson
GENERAL MANAGER, AUSTRALIA

Jamie Thompson

Jamie joined SafeSide in 2023 as the inaugural General Manager for Australia. As a psychologist with 18 years’ experience in suicide prevention and related fields, and 11 years’ experience in management roles, Jamie brings the expertise, passion, and knowledge needed to deliver SafeSide’s goals at scale.

Ann Wood
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Ann Wood

Ann brings decades of experience in the corporate world helping global organizations succeed with major software implementations. Wanting to make a difference in suicide prevention, Ann now applies her talents to making sure our subscriber organizations have a clear path to success with the SafeSide Framework and training programs.