Suicide Assessment and Intervention

If you completed this course in the past and would like to repurchase, please contact Customer Service

This course is also offered as part of a Pre-licensing Savings Package

On September 1, 2017, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 89 (Levine). This law added section 2915.4 to the Business and Professions Code, became effective January 1, 2020. An applicant for licensure as a psychologist with the CA Board of Psychology shall show completion of a minimum of six (6) hours of coursework or applied experience in suicide assessment and intervention. See https://www.psychology.ca.gov/laws_regs/ab89_suicide_prevention.shtml

Also, as of January 1, 2021, the CA-BBS Suicide Prevention Training bill AB 1436 ( Levine), will require applicants for licensure as CA-MFTs, CA-CSWs, CA-PCCs, and LEPs to demonstrate completion of a minimum of six (6) hours or supervised experience in suicide risk assessment and intervention. Current licensees would also be required to demonstrate completion of this coursework or supervised experience in their first renewal period after this date. See https://bbs.ca.gov/pdf/suicide_prevention.pdf

This course consists of 10 articles and 5 podcasts (transcripts provided), including suicide statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. It explains both standard and the latest assessment instruments for assessing suicide risk. 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 in doing so may actually make some suicides more likely. In addition to presenting effective risk-management techniques that also enhance good therapy, the course covers suicide from both the perspective of the clinician and client, covering such issues as what a suicidal state of mind feels like, and how the fear, as well as actual client suicides, affect therapists. A section of the course presents the humane, unique and non-pathological approach to suicidality by David Webb, the first person to attempt suicide and eventually earn a Ph.D. in the study of suicide. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.