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Suicide Assessment and Intervention: Assess Suicidal Ideation and Effectively Intervene in Crisis Situations with Confidence, Composure and Sensitivity


Credit Available - See CEUs tab below.

Categories:
Assessment |  Cognitive Behavioral Therapies |  DBT |  Suicide and Self-Harm
Faculty:
Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD
Duration:
6 Hours 28 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
Original Program Date:
Oct 13, 2022
SKU:
POS053755
Media Type:
Online Learning



Description

Losing a client to suicide is your worst nightmare. And there inevitably comes a time when the suicidal client is more than just an intangible dread. When an actual person, suffering and sitting in your office, reveals they are having suicidal thoughts. Many clinicians are left feeling unprepared, frightened, and unsure what to do next. The weight of keeping someone alive can steer you in the direction of avoidance. Desperate and alone, suicidal clients can find themselves passed from one therapist to the next. And that’s not care.

Don’t let fear push you away.

This seminar will transform how you view and work with suicidal clients and give you the clinical tools you need to save lives.

Full of thought provoking lecture, engaging case studies, and guided instruction on a host of powerful clinical applications, this seminar will provide you with the tools you need to:

  • Assess for suicidal risk and identify implicit and explicit expressions of suicidal thought.
  • Formulate a game-plan for crises when suicide is imminent.
  • Intervene in suicidal despair with proactive approaches derived from the evidencebased efficacy of CBT and DBT.
  • Effectively use targeted language with suicidal clients that will help you avoid stigma and successfully communicate your compassion.
  • Provide innovative grief support resources that connect clients and clinicians with other survivors of suicide and suicide loss.

Leave this seminar feeling confident and capable to work with suicidal clients and guide them out of the darkness and back into the light!

CEUs


General Credits

This course is available for 6.25 total CPDs

The HPCSA has declared that any on-line courses CPD/CEU credited by a certified US board, is automatically CPD/CEU credited in South Africa. 

As there are different boards for different disciplines, we at Acacia suggest that you use the Counselling CPD/CEU credits. These correspond to South African credits of one CPD/CEU per 60 minutes. If you choose to use your discipline's credits, please do so at your discretion.


Florida Social Workers

PESI, Inc. is an approved provider with the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. Provider Number 50-399. This self-study course qualifies for 6.25 continuing education credits. 



Handouts

Faculty

Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD's Profile

Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD Related seminars and products


Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and inspirational international speaker. Dr. Spencer-Thomas was moved to work in suicide prevention after her younger brother, a Denver entrepreneur, died of suicide after a difficult battle with bipolar condition.

Dr. Spencer-Thomas has been an invited speaker at the White House on the topics of mental health and suicide prevention and has held leadership positions for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the American Association for Suicidology, and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. She has won multiple awards for her leadership including the 2014 Survivor of the Year from the American Association of Suicidology, the 2014 Invisible Disabilities Association Impact Honors Award, the 2012 Alumni Master Scholar from the University of Denver, the 2015 Farbarow Award from the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the 2016 Career Achievement Alumni Award from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology.

She has a Doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Denver, a Masters in non-profit management from Regis University, and a bachelor’s in psychology and studio art with a minor in economics from Bowdoin College. She has written four books on mental health and violence prevention.


Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Sally Spencer Thomas maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Sally Spencer Thomas is the president of United Suicide Survivors International and is a member of the executive board for the American Association of Suicidology. She is co-chair of the Workplace Special Interest Group for the International Association of Suicide Prevention and is a member of the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.


Objectives

  1. Assess individuals at risk of suicide with a clinical approach that identifies both explicit and implicit expressions of suicidal thought.
  2. Determine key indicators of imminent suicide and develop a strategy for determining when and how to hospitalize clients.
  3. Formulate a CBT and DBT oriented case conceptualization that addresses how to effectively work with specific populations including veterans and the elderly.
  4. Employ a collaborative safety approach to help clients survive a suicidal crisis.
  5. Develop communication strategies that convey compassion and support and strengthen the therapeutic alliance.
  6. Design a multi-systemic approach that reduces access to lethal means and incorporates the suicidal person’s social connections into their safety plan.

Outline

Suicide: Who, When, How and Where

  • Addiction recovery
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Populations with multiple risk factors
  • Suicide attempt survivors – learning from their experience
  • Upstream clinical practices: reaching people before the point of crisis

Elicit Key Information from Suicidal Clients: Assessment and Level of Risk

  • Implicit and explicit expressions of suicidal thoughts
  • Communicating caring: Language to impart compassion and avoid stigma
  • Suicide risk assessment
    • SAFE-T
    • PATH WARM
    • Ideation, plan, means, intent
    • Level of risk

Formulate Treatment Plans that Help Clients Regulate Emotions and Make Them Feel Valued and Connected

  • Collaborative safety planning (or “Why Suicide Contracting is Dead”)
  • Proactive approaches to decrease the likelihood of suicidal despair
  • Multi-system approaches – support systems
  • Evidence-based treatments:
    • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
      • Cognitive restructuring strategies
      • Emotional regulation exercises
      • Behavioral Activation
    • Dialectical Behavior Therapy
      • How to organize a skills training group
      • Tips for phone coaching
  • Relapse prevention plans
  • Documentation
  • Reduce access to lethal means
  • Working with specific populations: veterans, the elderly

Confidently Handle Crisis Situations

  • Conduct a behavioral chain analysis
  • Validating reasons for suicide
  • Identify reasons for living
  • Use distress tolerance and CBT skills to manage a crisis
  • When and how to hospitalize

Suicide Grief Support and Innovative Suicide-Specific Care

  • Implement Suicide Grief Support
    • Understand the unique nature of suicide grief
    • Peer-based support: Connect clients to other survivors of loss​
  • Other innovative suicide-specific care
    • Collaborative online tools and applications
  • Clinicians with lived experience
  • Post-traumatic growth and suicide

Target Audience

  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychiatrists
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Case Managers
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Other Mental Health Professionals
  • School-Based Counselors
  • School-Based Psychologists
  • School-Based Social Workers
  • School Administrators

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