Suicide Assessment, Treatment & Management

Fulfills Requirement: Suicide

Suicide attempts and completions can leave patients, families, and even providers struggling for answers. Causes and best practices remain topics of research and approaches to assessment and treatment continue to evolve with the introduction of new interventions and technologies. This course is designed to provide an overview of key topics clinicians need to remain aware of in order to provide effective assessment and intervention.

This intermediate course consists of four articles, two audio interviews, and two audio and video interviews. The course material includes suicide statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as a suicide checklist for clinicians. It explains effective risk-management techniques that also enhance good therapy with interviews with Dr. David Jobes, Rita Schulte, LPC, Dr. Glenn Marks, and Dr. Trent Davis. It exposes the flaws in the too-often used no-suicide contract, explaining why such contracts serve more to protect the therapist than the client and is not the most helpful to the client. The course covers suicide from both the perspective of the clinician and the client along with a surviving family member.

The content delves into such issues as what a suicidal state of mind feels like, and how the fear, as well as actual client suicides, affect therapists. There is an additional focus on working with special populations such as the military and veterinary professionals. Additional resources including links to useful apps and references are provided for further study, but are not part of the course.