2024 School Safety and Security Summit

Susan Tellone (she/hers) is a Certified School Nurse and health educator with a Masters degree in nursing and a Bachelor’s degree in mental health and rehabilitation. She has been working as a psychiatric nurse for the past 38 years with an emphasis on suicide prevention. She worked in the Emergency rooms of Monmouth Medical as one of the first PESS (psychiatric emergency suicide screeners), and went on from there to teach for many years at the University of Medicine and Dentistry on various topics on mental health, but specifically the psychiatric screening law of New Jersey. In 2008 Susan took a position at Manasquan High School as a school nurse and educator and soon after that, her school experienced one of the larger teenage suicide contagions on record. During her tenure at Manasquan, as a response to the suicide contagion, Susan took on the roles of Crisis Coordinator, Anti-bullying specialist and Master Lifelines Suicide Prevention Trainer. She co-authored a Project Serv Grant (Schools against violence) and was able to get funding into her school to develop a Crisis plan based on the Lifelines Curriculum that became a national model. She presented this plan at the National Conference on Suicidality in Florida in 2009. She was also the keynote speaker at the Annual Conference for Safe and Drug Free Schools in Boston in 2010, and presenter at the REMS conference in Washington DC 2011, International Conference of Suicide Prevention in New York City 2012, NJEA teachers conference 2014, and most recently at the Mental Health America Conference in 2019. Susan continues to present both locally and Nationally on this topic. Susan and her crisis team focused on the rebuilding of Manasquan School District with a renewed emphasis on strength and resiliency of the students, faculty and community. Since retiring from education, Susan worked for three years as the Vice President of the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County. During her Vice Presidency at MHA Susan through County and grant funding was able to bring the Lifelines Suicide Prevention program to over 160 schools in Monmouth County. Presently she holds the position of the Clinical Director at Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide where she continues her passion for preventing suicide among our youth through education in schools and communities.