Susan Tellone is a Certified School Nurse and health educator with a Master’s 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.