Introduction: Suicide occurs at high rates within military populations, necessitating a well-trained medical force. Behavioral health providers experience a number of logistical barriers when seeking training in evidence-based psychotherapies for suicide prevention. Although prior studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of online training platforms, there is a lack of research on learner factors associated with training outcomes. One factor that may improve learner outcomes in virtual worlds is “presence” (i.e., one’s feeling of “being there”), which may increase one’s attention and learning. The present study sought to examine the role of presence in learning outcomes among behavioral health providers. Method: Participants were licensed behavioral health providers who used suicide prevention protocols as part of their job. Participants completed a pre-training orientation to Second Life (SL), a pre-training assessment, a 2-day (16 hours) cognitive behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (CBT-SP) workshop, and a post-workshop training. Training was provided in the CDP’s Virtual Education Center in SL, an online, avatar-based world. Multiple linear regressions examined the effect of presence on workshop outcomes. Analyses controlled for comfort with 1) computer technology, 2) new technology, and 3) distance learning. Participants with missing pre-training data (n=15) were excluded. Results: Participants (N=40) were primarily trained in social work (50.0%) and psychology (42.5%) and were civilians (62.5%). Most participants (77.5%) had no prior experience with SL. Participants largely reported SL was an effective method for continuing education (CE; 85.0%), was superior to other online CE platforms (60.0%), they would take future CE courses in SL (80%), and would recommend SL to colleagues seeking CE courses (65%). Additionally, 32.5% rated SL as superior to face-to-face training. Greater presence was positively correlated with perceiving SL to be superior to other online (p=.04) and face-to-face CE formats (p=.009) and likelihood of recommending SL CE courses to colleagues (p=.045). Presence was not correlated with perceiving SL to be an effective method for CE (p=.692) and likelihood of taking future SL training. Participants reported significant increases in knowledge (p<.001); confidence in treating suicide (p<.001); and perceived knowledge (p<.001), preparedness (p<.001), and confidence (p<.001). No significant changes in attitudes about suicide were identified (p=.068). Presence was positively related to perceived competence (p=.025) and confidence (p=.021) to use the CBT-SP protocol. Though not statistically significant, a positive trend was observed between presence and perceived knowledge gain (p=.078). Presence was not related to knowledge assessesment (p<.11), changes in confidence in suicide prevention (p=.08), or attitudes about suicide (p=.17). Discussion: Presence was positively related to some but not all indicators of acceptability, providing partial support for hypotheses. Notably, presence appeared more important to participants’ perceptions of their learning outcomes. Due to the significant need for trained providers, studies examining factors that may improve learning outcomes in online training environments are imperative to increase the effectiveness of these workshops. Training organizations should seek to increase presence during online training to improve outcomes.